Cape Coral clock to be replaced after original sold on Facebook Marketplace

Cape Coral is looking to replace the city’s iconic clock after the old one was put up for sale on Facebook Marketplace by the wife of someone who offered to repair it.

“The clock is a monument; it’s an important part of our city… it has meaning,” said Linda Biondi, chairwoman of the Cape Coral Community Redevelopment Agency. “It’s something you see when you go over the bridge and when you come back into the Cape. The fact that it was damaged, and then we never heard anything else about it until we saw that it was sold on Facebook Marketplace… it’s a little upsetting.”

Biondi said the city originally shipped the clock to a man who offered to restore it free of charge. But that man’s wife stepped in, vetoed his offer and sold the clock on Facebook Marketplace. The initial buyer decided he no longer wanted the clock, so it is currently back on Facebook Marketplace.

Melissa Mickey, Cape Coral’s public information officer, told WINK News that, according to what vendors have said, it would be cheaper to get a new clock than to fix the old one.

“We have started receiving some quotes from different vendors for a replacement clock,” Mickey said. “They are around $30,000 to replace it.”

Mickey said the plan is to get an exact replica of the original clock. It used to stand at the intersection of Del Prado Boulevard and Cape Coral Parkway, but a new location is possible.

“The community redevelopment agency, they’ll decide on the location of the clock and probably decide which clock replica that they want to go with as well,” Mickey said.

But Biondi told WINK that’s news to her.

“We should have been in the loop with what was going on,” Biondi said. “It should have been something that was discussed with us or at least kept us informed of what was happening.”

Now that Biondi knows what the CRA’s role will be, the goal is to get the new clock made and put it back in Cape Coral, where it belongs.