Group seeks to build $1 billion gaming resort at The Forum

By Dick Hogan
©Ft. Myers News-Press
Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A $1 billion gaming resort with 1,500 hotel rooms is being proposed by a business group for The Forum at Colonial Boulevard and Interstate 75 in Fort Myers.

But the state Legislature and Lee County voters will have to approve the plan first.

So far the project is drawing support locally for the jobs and economic shot in the arm it would provide, but opposition because it could change the character of the area for the worse.

A flyer urging support for the project is being mailed out to 50,000 households this week, said Phil Nichols of Atlanta-based Whitestar Strategies, a consultant working with developer Champion Development Corp.

Nichols said he’s confident if the Legislature approves gaming at The Forum, he’ll have the voters’ support for amending the county charter — also required for the resort to become reality.

In polling conducted locally, he said, “64 percent approve” of a gaming facility at a single location in the county. Whitestar is hard at work now getting the roughly 24,000 signatures required to get on the November 2012 ballot.

Construction alone would bring 10,000 to 15,000 jobs in addition to the tourism and employment a resort would generate, Nichols said.

Before that vote can take place, however, approval by the Legislature is required at the session that starts in January, Nichols said. “I think a lot of it depends on our local representatives.”

But not everyone in the county is on board.

County Commissioner Frank Mann said the developers asked him for his support, but he declined.

“I think casino gambling would so totally alter the character of Lee County, and not necessarily to the good, that I think it would have a negative effect on our lifestyle,” he said. “There’s a downside that brings a seedier aspect of life that you won’t see but the sheriff will see it and the city police department will see it.”

But Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson said the resort would be a welcome addition to the area. “The elevations (architectural drawings) are beautiful — it would inspire any city.”

Mainly, he said, “If that’s what the citizens vote, to make that happen, I want to make sure we have the highest quality of economic development we can have out there.”

With local unemployment at 11.5 percent, Henderson said the jobs the resort would bring are a major incentive. “We have to be pursuing economic activity that hires people, that puts people to work. This could exceed a billion dollars in building activity.”

Real estate broker Robert Wagner of Evans & Wagner Commercial Group, which has been working with Champion on the resort, said it’s a project whose time has come. “It’s time for somebody to come in. If it’s not this group, it’ll be another group.”

Expect to see the same thing happening around the state, he said. “Once this gets the green light, this won’t be the only area that does that.”