Fort Myers Beach Starts Reviewing London Bay's Live Local Plan for 153 Condos and 102 Workforce Homes

A major housing proposal on Fort Myers Beach has moved into a new phase. According to reporting by Nathan Mayberg in the Fort Myers Beach Observer, published October 14, 2026, the Town of Fort Myers Beach has deemed London Bay Development Group's application for the former Outrigger Beach Resort property complete, and town staff have begun reviewing it.

The property sits on Estero Boulevard across from Town Hall, on roughly three and a half acres. The project is filed by London Bay and its investors under 6200 Estero Blvd Investments LLC.

What makes this filing different from the plan the island argued over earlier this year is the law it relies on. London Bay is no longer asking the town for a rezoning and a comprehensive plan change. It is asking for approval under Florida's Live Local Act, a 2023 state housing law, which is designed to let qualifying housing projects be approved by staff rather than by a vote of elected officials.

As the Observer describes the current filing, the plan has two residential pieces and a smaller commercial piece:

• A 15-story tower holding 153 condominiums along with 104 hotel rooms.
• A four-story multifamily building with 102 units described in the application as workforce housing.
• Supporting space, including a beach club, a small amount of retail, restaurants for the hotel, amenity areas and garage parking.

For anyone thinking about owning on the island, the numbers that matter are the homes. Between the condos and the workforce units, the filing describes more than 250 residences on one site in the middle of the island. That is a different project from the plan the Local Planning Agency rejected in May, which the Observer says centered on hotel units with a much smaller number of condominiums.

The Observer also notes that the application calls the 102 units "workforce housing," while the Live Local Act itself uses the term affordable housing. How those two labels line up is one of the open questions in the review.

The path has been long. London Bay's earlier plan went before the town's Local Planning Agency in the spring, where neighbors turned out in numbers at two meetings, largely over the height and density. In May the agency voted against the comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning that plan needed.

The project was headed to the Town Council over the summer. The Observer reports that about a week before that hearing, London Bay withdrew the original request and filed under the Live Local Act instead. In a letter to the town, London Bay's chief executive, Mark Wilson, said he believes the company is entitled to build the project under that law.

The town finished its completeness review on September 28, according to the Observer, which starts a 120-day clock. The town has until January 26 to approve the application, approve it with conditions, or deny it.

Under the Live Local Act, a qualifying project is reviewed administratively. In the Observer's summary of the law, a project qualifies when a required share of its rental units is kept affordable for at least 30 years, when it meets the town's multifamily regulations, and when it is otherwise consistent with the comprehensive plan. The law also limits how far a town can restrict density and height for a project that qualifies.

Mayor Dan Allers told the Observer that the council does not have decision-making authority on this filing. He said he would have preferred the traditional process, but acknowledged London Bay's right to use the law "provided they qualify." Town spokesperson Abigail Eberhart said staff will decide eligibility against the criteria in the statute.

Not everyone on the dais is comfortable with that. Local Planning Agency Chair Anita Cereceda told the Observer the act "circumvents the public process." Agency member Ed Schoonover, who voted in favor of the earlier rezoning, declined to discuss the new filing but said the law "takes away more local control." Tom Brady of the group Protect FMB said the town has legal rights of its own and should defend them. Several other officials declined to comment, in some cases because they may still vote if the original plan returns.

No. Eligibility has not been decided, and the Observer points to real tension in the filing. The Live Local Act does not exempt a project from every local rule, and the town's height limits on the beach side of Estero Boulevard are far below a 15-story tower. Whether the state law overrides those limits for this particular site, and whether the workforce units meet the law's affordability terms, are exactly what staff now have to work through.

The Observer's reporting also carries several different height figures from different stages of the project, so I am not repeating one here. The plain picture is a 15-story tower and a four-story building, with the exact measurement for the record left to the town's review.

If staff deny the application, London Bay could return to the traditional process with its original plan. If staff approve it, nobody can say yet whether that decision would be challenged.

Nobody can honestly put a number on what this project would do to the value of any home on the island, and I will not try. What it can change is practical, and those are the things worth watching:

• New condo supply. If it is built, 153 new condominiums in the center of the island would be new construction competing with resale units. My guide to choosing new construction or resale on Fort Myers Beach covers how buyers weigh the two.
• How the island's height rules hold up. The outcome here will show how the Live Local Act applies on Estero Island, which matters to anyone who owns near another large redevelopment site.
• Traffic on Estero Boulevard. More than 250 homes, a hotel and a beach club on one site would add trips to the island's main road, which owners already plan their days around in season.
• The January 26 deadline. That is the date the town has to act by, and the next real milestone.

If you are weighing beachfront condos on Fort Myers Beach or a new construction home on the island, I can walk you through what is already built, what is approved, and what is still a proposal, so the decision rests on facts rather than headlines. My step-by-step home buying process starts with exactly that.

Large redevelopment proposals take time, and they change along the way. I follow them so that buyers and sellers on the island are not caught off guard. If you own on Fort Myers Beach, or you are thinking about buying here, reach out to me directly and we can talk about how a proposal like this one fits into your own plans.

This article summarizes public reporting and is not legal advice about the Live Local Act or any particular property.

Kris Asquith, Broker Associate at Premiere Plus Realty, (239) 300-1427.