Pitching redevelopment ideas for the vacated City of Palms Park

Reporter: Tiffany Rizzo Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:
city of palms park
City of Palms park in Fort Myers. Credit: WINK News.

While the City of Palms Park in Fort Myers used to be the Boston Red Sox’s home for Spring Training, it has been sitting empty for a while.

WINK News is getting a look into the future of the City of Palms Park.

How does a soccer stadium, a shopping center or some restaurants sound? It’s unclear what will happen to the baseball stadium, but we may be nearing an answer.

Four companies will pitch their ideas to the city at a special meeting.

Much of it has to do with the location since the empty stadium and the land around it sits in the middle and heart of midtown, so it’s close to downtown and the Caloosahatchee River.

“This venue is sitting right in the middle of Midtown, so it’s such an important venue, obviously for the development or the redevelopment of Midtown,” said Liz Bello-Matthews, the director of communications and public affairs for the City of Fort Myers.

“I don’t care if it’s revitalized as a sports complex, or if it’s repurposed into something else, or it’s torn down and redeveloped. It doesn’t matter to me. We have to do something,” said Kevin Anderson, the Mayor of Fort Myers.

The stadium was built in 1993 for the Red Sox, but they haven’t played there since 2011.

Click here to take the survey and help shape the future of the City of Palms Park.

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