Wednesday afternoon, the City of Cape Coral closed on the sale of the 48-acre property for the 7 Islands Project that was approved in January by the City Council. The sale price was $20 million.
After repaying the city’s stormwater and water and sewer funds about $4 million, which was used for the original land purchase, and calculating $2.5 million in economic incentives the developer will be given after reaching certain benchmarks, the city netted about $13.6 million from this property sale.
The city came into possession of the Seven Islands property about 10 years ago. The city bought about 650 acres of foreclosed properties, including the Seven Island property for only $13.7 million.
Seven Islands is located in the southwest area of the Northwest Cape. When completed, the new development is expected to include 995 residential units, a 10-story 240-room hotel, a marina with 39 slips, an outdoor amphitheater, community center, playground, splash pad, restroom pavilion, waterfront park with outdoor seating, a food truck park and a dog park.
The city will kick in $2.5 million in financial incentives; $1 million will be paid after the marina is completed, $1 million will be paid after the hotel is up and running, and $500,000 will be paid the community center is open. In order to get the money, the developer must complete the marina within 8 years, the hotel within a decade and the community center within 6 years. If those elements are not completed on time, the incentives are reduced by 10% every year they are late. The developer must also complete road improvements, irrigation, and landscaping on Old Burnt Store Road as part of the Development Agreement.
The project will be built in phases and take at least 10 years to complete.