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FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 8, 2005) – Lee County has recognized Fort Myers Fort Myers Avenue Shops, a Southwest Florida Lifestyle Center, for its effort in beautifying the streetscape along Cleveland Avenue (U.S. 41). On Tuesday, the Fort Myers Avenue Shops (formerly Dragon Plaza) was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the Lee County Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee.
The Certificate of Appreciation is for the aesthetic improvements that Fort Myers Avenue Shops installed within the right-of-way of Cleveland Avenue (U.S. 41), including the placement of overhead utilities underground, piping in the roadside drainage ditch, leveling off the roadsides, sodding, adding irrigation, and planting Royal Palms and Cocoplums to enhance the roadside. Fort Myers Avenue Shops includes 237,000 sq. ft. of retail space on over one-quarter mile of frontage on Cleveland Avenue, midway between Colonial Boulevard and College Parkway.
The landscaping is part of a major redevelopment project underway at Fort Myers Avenue Shops. Additional improvements will include the creation of a central landscaped entrance with traffic signal, new modern signs, improved parking, pedestrian plazas, an open-air food court with café seating among planters and fountains, and new architecture throughout.
Lee County is encouraging businesses along U.S. 41 to add landscaping as part of a $9-million county effort to add landscaping in the medians and along the roadway in the unincorporated areas of the county (North Fort Myers, and south of Fort Myers to Bonita Springs).
Lee County’s Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee is appointed by the County Commission and provides recommendations and suggestions to the Commission on the funding of roadway landscaping projects. The Certificate of Appreciation was presented by Committee Members Keith W. Trowbridge, Chad Holliday, and Lee County Department of Transportation Operations Manager Donald V. Chamblee, P.E. Fort Myers Avenue Shops was represented by Charles Gabler and Melissa Grant of ORBIS Properties, and Rodney Fidler, Jr., CCIM of Fidler Real Estate Services.
Fort Myers Avenue Shops is owned and managed by ORBIS Properties, a New York-based investment company. Among the firm’s other projects in Southwest Florida are: Colonial Executive Park, including the Heidt Building and the 3850 Colonial Office Center now under construction; New Brittany Corporate Center in the College Parkway business district; and the Shops at Jamaica Bay, a retail center to be built on U.S. 41, just south of Gladiolus Drive.
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| From left: Donald V. Chamblee, P.E., Chad Holliday, and Keith W. Trowbridge present the Certificate of Appreciation to Charles Gabler, Rodney Fidler, Jr., and Melissa Grant. |
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| Improved landscape along Cleveland Avenue (U.S. 41) at Fort Myers Avenue Shops. |
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