As the Bimini Basin pieces of the Cape Coral Parkway corridor continue to come slowly together, city leaders are working another angle at a historic spot about a half-mile away near its downtown eastern border: The potential redevelopment of Big John’s home.
While the hurricane-battered 28-foot tall iconic statue remains under repair and with the adjacent shopping center now up for sale, the Lee County city is exploring how to reshape its long-standing public parking area into something more dynamic.
The goal is not simply to preserve it. It is to transform it in Southwest Florida’s largest city.
Here’s what to know.
What’s Cape Coral’s aim on Big John’s development ideas?
The city is putting out an RFI, a request meant to draw ideas from the private sector.
“The intent of the Request for Interest is to see what kind of development proposals developers would bring forward for the Big John’s site,” said Zachary Gogel, Community Redevelopment Agency project manager. The “RFI (is) to determine whether there is interest in developing that parking lot.”
Development opportunity in ‘the heart’ of South Cape
As we first reported earlier this year, owner Elmer Tabor has listed the adjoining two-acre strip known now as South Cape Towne Center and built at the city’s birth nearly seven decades ago.
Part of Tabor’s $12.5 million listing with Century 21 includes a potential public-private venture: “It could be left as is or has the opportunity to partner with the city and be a major redevelopment in the heart of downtown Cape Coral. The City owns the 87,360-square foot parking lot directly to the north of our subject and is interested in partnering with a developer. Their vision is mixed use with multiple levels of parking.”
What is Southwest Florida city’s goal with Big John’s?
The RFI establishes a clear direction. Parking will remain central but not in its current form.
“It is a public parking lot, and one of the main priorities with any proposal is to double the amount of public parking spaces there while also incorporating and activating the plaza,” Gogel said. “One of the last things we want is for the back of a building to face that space. Instead, we would like to see development incorporate a commercial aspect where businesses on the alley side of the building face the plaza. That would help activate a pedestrian walkway and energize the space.”
‘Economic activity & special events’ for SWFL’s Big John’s
That dual focus highlights a broader shift. The city is not just adding parking but reworking those spaces to generate foot traffic and economic activity. And the hope extends beyond passive use.
“We can see this area being used for special events and other activities in the future,” Gogel said.
What may happen to Cape Coral’s huge Big John’s statue?
And whether bulky Big John will be part of the party in the long term, even after this year’s expected return, hasn’t been determined. Tabor, who has a backup plan under wraps, hopes so though.
“He’s not part of the sale. Big John is mine. That’s like selling my wife or my daughter,” he told my colleague, Charles Runnells. “He’s not part of the shopping center. And so he’s gonna stay there. And if the city ever finds a developer to bulldoze that area like they did with the Cove, I’m sure Big John’s going to have to be moved, (and) if he has to be moved, I’ve got a place for him. He’s gonna stay around Cape Coral.”
How does Big John’s link to bigger SW Florida strategy?
Still, Big John’s plaza ties directly into a larger parking strategy across South Cape, especially with the current widening of the parkway.
“Two projects are the Vincennes Boulevard parking lots,” Gogel said. “We’re removing 56 parking spaces on Cape Coral Parkway with the six-laning project. These two parking lots—one on the north side on Vincennes Boulevard and the other on the south side on Vincennes Street—will provide 58 spaces. So we will actually have an increase of two parking spaces just from those two lots. In addition, we added diagonal on-street parking on Vincennes Street, which increased capacity by five spaces.”
When did Bimini Square & Cove at 47th open in the Cape?
The numbers become more significant when combined with major South Cape redevelopments including: The $103 million Cove at 47th that debuted in 2025, the $125 million Bimini Square, which has been rolling out restaurants the past few months and unfinished urban village plans for 20 or so acres east of the new square we first told you about last year.
“We also have another 125 spaces within the Cove and another 125 spaces within Bimini Square, providing a total of 314 new spaces within the CRA,” Gogle said. “With the 56 spaces being removed, that results in a net increase of 258 spaces within this area.”
When will Cape Coral Parkway widening be complete?
Key in all this will be able to cut through the construction clutter of Cape Coral Parkway.
We expect substantial completion of this project by Oct, 31, just in time before season and the holidays, as well as the various events that take place on Cape Coral Parkway,” Gogel said. “The goal is to have this completed before it interferes with any seasonal events.”
What is the goal with South Cape in Southwest Florida?
Even with road widening, the discussions at gatherings around Big John’s, parking, Cape Coral Parkway and broader CRA efforts point to a city in transition — one trying to move from a car-centric layout toward a more activated, walkable and economically vibrant core.
“The Cove was probably seven or eight years in the making,” said City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn. “Capital projects take a long time — a five-year process. You’re starting all the way at the inception of the idea. It’s not that somebody brings us a set of design drawings that are permitted and ready to go, and then we just implement it. If you have any external hiccups, you just add time to that.”
What ‘hiccup’ happened with Cape Coral lighting project?
Like the updated South Cape lighting that is wrapping up later than expected.
“Out of 166 poles received, 23 were damaged,” Gogel said. “We had to send 23 poles back to the manufacturer for repair: Those poles were either fixed, replaced (or) repainted.”
‘People think there’s magic button’ in Cape Coral, Florida
The ideas are ambitious, but the timeline is long, and the process is incremental.
“Just the nature of a capital project,” Ilczyszyn said. “People think there’s a magic button, but we’re in the same position as the private sector. Most of the time, what people see is groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting, but a large majority of the work happens long before that — zoning, entitlements, land use approvals, design, permitting, even property acquisition. In many ways, when you’re doing this, you’re acting as the developer, and you’re starting much earlier in the process than what people typically see.”
South Cape projects. ‘Moving forward on all of them’ in SWFL
What residents see now — new lighting, added parking, active construction, Bimini Square and the Cove progress — is only one phase of an ongoing effort.
“Our project report, it’s much smaller and leaner,” Gogel said. “But we have some pretty good projects in it, and we’re moving forward on all of them.”
As city leaders continue to stress, more, such as the eastern Bimini enterprise, is still in the works.
Writing In the Know for the USA TODAY Network, Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com) grew up in Southwest Florida and has led Pulitzer Prize-winning efforts. Sign up for our free Breaking Ground growth and development newsletter. Subscribe to our News-Press and Naples Daily News apps.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Big John’s next? City eyes redevelopment as South Cape shift continues
Reporting by Phil Fernandez, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Phil Fernandez, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News | USA TODAY Network
