When I think of the word “downtown” it evokes a lot of words, food, drinks, fun and positive energy. I personally have always loved Downtown Fort Myers. I’ve lived here in Southwest Florida since I was around 3 years old, so I’ve seen downtown really grow, even in high school it was desolate and was really only used to go get a tattoo, or pay your speeding ticket at the courthouse. I didn’t realize how different Downtown Fort Myers was in the 1900’s. Now where there are apartment buildings, restaurants and law offices there use to be just houses all along the water and down all the streets.
I don’t know how someone could say Fort Myers isn’t experiencing something of a renaissance. Especially if you have lived here long enough to see it’s transformation, and it’s become more of a destination. What I’ve personally noticed is they’ve been remodeling it back to a concept of what downtown should look like. The cobblestone like roads, as well as the Neo-Classical Revival Style; found on some of the public buildings, like The Lee County Courthouse, and the First National Bank, as well as Mediterranean Revival; found in the Patio de Leon and the Post Office Arcade. My personal favorite building downtown is the Sidney Berne & Davis Building. The renovation and upkeep of these buildings make it a beautiful and historic downtown to walk around and site see.
The “nods to history” that I saw on my walk around Downtown Fort Myers was several monuments dedicated to Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone, the great inventors, who all once resided in Fort Myers. You see these in centennial park, and placed throughout downtown. As I said before the economy of Fort Myers have certainly evolved from past to present, it is growing exponentially with businesses and not just law offices. Finally people are leaving, eating and shopping downtown; it has become a destination. I personally think downtown aspects always relate to sustainability. If there is more things going on downtown (in a much smaller space) and you live downtown, you’re more likely to stay in the city area and not drive to each restaurant, grocery store or clothing store. Instead you’ll walk out of your apartment down to the cafe, not hop in your car.
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