Phil Fernandez | Naples Daily News
Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series on Florida’s first Great Wolf Lodge, one of the most significant endeavors in Naples history that’s drawing plenty of questions from you. One of Collier County’s biggest private workplaces, the 530,000-square-foot retreat and water park is slated as Southwest Florida’s third largest employer in tourism, drawing by itself the same number of visitors in a year that all of Collier in its entirety attracts in nearly three months time.
If you thought the $250 million Great Wolf Lodge was just about a 500-room resort and a 92,000-square-foot water park, think again when it comes to its Florida debut slated for September.
For the first time ever, Great Wolf Lodge will be featuring numerous new high-flying and futuristic attractions in its upcoming next generation Florida location that hasn’t previously been offered at its 20 other properties.
In the Know got an early first peek ahead of a Thursday Naples reveal of what’s in store for Southwest Florida, and nearly all of it doesn’t involve getting wet at the locale off I-75 and Collier Boulevard.
Here’s what to know.
What new attraction will be above Great Wolf Lodge’s Adventure Park?
The Howlers Peak Ropes Course will feature its first indoor zipline element, stretching 150 feet in length and providing a 180-degree panoramic view of the 60,000-square-foot newly imagined Adventure Park, which is entered from the resort’s Grand Lobby by traversing under a canopy of mossy branches and twinkling lights.
The course itself provides families the opportunity to balance on ropes, cross bridges and climb through obstacles, with the safety of a harness.
Where will new Great Wolf ‘harness-free climbing expedition’ take you? Read more on naplesnews.com.
Laura Layden |Naples Daily News
In a unanimous decision, city council denied plans for new hotel rooms on Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples, seeing them as the wrong fit.
The vote came Wednesday, just weeks after a city election, with three new faces on council.
Much of the campaigning in the election centered around growth and development, with the word “overdevelopment” often bantered about, as a threat to the city’s small-town charm.
Two of the new councilors garnered strong support from builders and developers in their campaigns, leading some residents to fear their influence on decision-making for current and future projects.
Bill Kramer, one of those councilors, described the proposal for hotel rooms as trying to stuff 100 pounds of flour into a 50-pound bag. Others on the board agreed.
Council unilaterally saw the hotel rooms, included as part of a new mixed-used building, as overdevelopment. The rooms would have sat atop a new restaurant.
Read more about the discussion and decision on naplesnews.com.
Naples and the surrounding Southwest Florida areas of Bonita Springs and Marco Island offer many lovely homes for seasonal and year round living. Contact David to find a home that suits your needs, Call 239-285-1086 or David@DavidFlorida.com
Liz Freeman | Naples Daily News
What you need to know
Lee Health has crunched financials for staying as a public hospital or becoming a private nonprofit system and found a conversion would bring gains after an initial hit.
The publicly-elected board of the 1,865-bed system with a $3 billion operating budget was briefed Thursday on how some revenue sources as a safety net hospital would be foregone while new financial opportunities would open up.
A 10-year projection starting in 2025 shows Lee Health’s net patient revenue at $34.5 billion if it stays as a public hospital. It would jump to $35.5 billion with the conversion to a private nonprofit. That would be a gain of $1 billion over the 10-year forecast, according to projections by Ben Spence, chief financial officer.
A key short-term loss would be $60 million in supplemental payments that are currently used to support treating uninsured and underinsured patients, according to Spence.
What are the upsides? Read more on naplesnews.com
Laura Layden | Naples Daily News
A furnished, Gulf-front penthouse has hit the market for a record price at The Regent in Park Shore.
Its price tag? $29.5 million.
Built in 2002, The Regent, a 24-story tower overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, sitting within the city of Naples, has 37 homes. That includes five penthouses.
Penthouse Three recently listed at an unheard-of price in the high-rise community after a major renovation by Borelli Construction and Calusa Bay Design.
According to the listing agents, the Earls | Lappin Team, with John R. Wood Christie’s International Real Estate, the inside of the residence spans more than 12,000 square feet, with 1,700 square feet of additional outdoor terraces. There are five bedrooms, a study with a private bar, six full- and two half-sized bathrooms, a theater room, a club room with a private fitness studio and a three-car garage, with a private entrance and exit.
View the photo gallery and get the details on naplesnews.com.
To view luxury homes currently for sale in Naples, Bonita Springs, Marco Island, contact David at 239-285-1086 or David@DavidFlorida.com
Mark H. Bickel, Laura Layden | Naples Daily News
There was some big news in the Southwest Florida real estate world on Tuesday.
Naples Daily News business reporter Laura Layden broke a story about a beachfront redevelopment site in Naples, also known as the “Miracle Mile,” fetching more than $100 million.
Layden reported the BH Group and The Kolter Group, both based in South Florida, purchased the Bahama Club, a mid-rise condominium complex, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. The purchase price: $102.6 million.
View the photo gallery and read 5 Things to know about Naples “Miracle Mile” on naplesnews.com.
To find new construction homes in the Naples-Bonita Springs area contact David at David@DavidFlorida.com or 239-285-1086.
Phil Fernandez | Naples Daily New
Not only will the Edison Awards bring some of the planet’s most innovative and talented minds to downtown Fort Myers this week, it’s also a moneymaker for Southwest Florida.
The economic impact is estimated at about $3 million, according to public records, with the hope that perhaps some of these visiting big dogs could eventually do more business in the area, set up offices or even move corporate headquarters here.
“There’s about 600 CEOs from 24 countries — the largest gathering of CEOs in the state of Florida,” said Lee County Economic Development Director John Talmage, who’s on the executive committee for the Horizon Foundation, an awards sponsor.
Here’s what to know.
Who are among the globe’s brightest minds converging on SW Florida?
The future and the execution of concepts to come are what’s at the heart of the awards, named after local winter resident and global whiz Thomas Alva Edison, who died in 1931. Established in 1987 in New York, the confab of some of Earth’s top business and government executives, academics and inventors comes Wednesday through Friday to the region for the fourth time to share concepts and hand out or receive honors at the Caloosa Sound Convention Center.
Find out more on naplesnews.com.
