New restaurants and bars seem to open there every week. Thousands of people pack the streets for sprawling events like Cape Coral Bike Night. And what was once a sleepy business district has transformed into one of the hippest, busiest destinations in Southwest Florida.
But what, exactly, do you call this growing hot spot in Southeast Cape Coral?
Well, that depends on who you ask.
For longtime resident Bella Martinez, the answer is simple: It’s downtown Cape Coral. It’s always been downtown Cape Coral.
“This area used to be a couple hole-in-the-wall bars, old Florida homes, a laundromat on the corner, and your usual banks and fast-food spots,” Martinez says. “It had its charm, but let’s be honest: It wasn’t a ‘destination.’
“(Now) we’ve got trendy restaurants, rooftop spots, luxury apartments, walkable streets, food trucks, art festivals and the Saturday farmer’s market. It’s where the city shows up for holidays, events, celebrations — everything happens here. That’s what a downtown is.”
But technically, downtown Cape Coral hasn’t been the area’s name for more than 15 years. Look around, and you’ll see various signs proclaiming the official name: South Cape.
There’s the South Cape Towne Center (better known as Big John’s Plaza), South Cape Diner, South Cape Scooter Rentals, South Cape Community Center and more.
The word “downtown” never quite fit, says Helen Ramey, former marketing manager and economic development director for the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), which rebranded the area from downtown to South Cape around 2010.
For example, there are no government buildings or city hall (although the city’s first council meetings happened at the fire station on Chester Street, says Janel Trull, executive director of the Cape Coral Museum of History). And “downtown” usually refers to a place with a much longer history, like downtown Fort Myers. Cape Coral didn’t come into existence until the early 1960s.
Sure, older residents still think of the area as downtown Cape Coral, Ramey says, but newer residents seem to be adopting the new name.
“The new people are grasping it…” Ramey says. “Sometimes it takes a while for name changes.”
Facebook poll: Most people call it downtown Cape Coral
Still, most people seem to call it by its old name: Downtown Cape Coral. That’s despite years of promotion and branding.
And neither Apple Maps nor Google Maps show the name “South Cape” when you search the apps: Only the names of businesses with “South Cape” in their name. But the apps do show downtown Cape Coral.
The News-Press/Naples Daily News conducted an informal poll of Cape Coral residents on the popular Facebook group Cape Coral Community Information. And an overwhelming majority of the more than 300 responses all said the same thing: It’s downtown Cape Coral.
For Bill Schmidt, “South Cape” makes him think of the entire southern half of Cape Coral south of Pine Island Road. But the branded South Cape area is actually found in the southeastern part of the city — and it’s only about a one-mile stretch of that much bigger Southeastern Cape Coral area.
“We always called it downtown…” Schmidt says. “The 17 years we’ve been living here, that’s how we have described it. Whether that’s right or wrong I don’t know. That’s just what we call it.”
Sherri Watson Warenik feels the same way.
“I call it downtown,” Watson Warenik says. “I moved here in 2003. I’ve only ever heard it being called ‘South Cape’ very recently.”
Downtown fits better, she says, because that and the surrounding Southeastern Cape were settled and developed first in the city. “This was the original town of Cape Coral, where all the businesses were located.”
But not everyone calls it downtown. A minority of responders to The News-Press/Naples Daily News poll say they call it by its official name.
“When I hear ‘downtown,’ I think downtown Fort Myers,” says Miranda Gabrielle.
Jennifer O’Connell also calls it South Cape.
“Up until recently, it didn’t feel like a ‘downtown,’’ O’Connell says. “There wasn’t much to do there, and it was kind of dumpy. (I’m) happy to see more walkability, newer businesses, restaurants and people enjoying the area a bit more.”
The heart of Cape Coral: South Cape growing with bars, restaurants, new developments like The Cove at 47th
Officials from the city government or the CRA weren’t available to answer questions about downtown Cape’s growth and the area’s rebranding as South Cape, said city spokesperson Kaitlyn Mullen.
But according to the CRA’s web page, the South Cape is home to “more than 60 restaurants, all-star chefs and cuisine, and more than 250,000-plus annual visitors.”
“Every great community has a heart that makes a place genuine and defines the character of the community,” the web page says. “For Cape Coral, that place is the South Cape. It is the historical beginning of Cape Coral.”
The CRA describes the area as “the heart of Cape Coral.” South Cape encompasses roughly the same area as the CRA’s special district, according to the city’s Office of Economic & Business Development: A one-mile stretch from Del Prado Boulevard to Palm Tree Boulevard, bordered on the north and south by Southeast 46th Street and Miramar Boulevard.
The city established the CRA in 1989 to help jumpstart the revitalization of the South Cape (then called downtown Cape Coral). The South Cape designation came about two decades later when the CRA rebranded the area.
Why it’s called South Cape: Blame the Great Recession and South Beach
The change came in response to the Great Recession from late 2007 to 2009, says former CRA economic development director Ramey. She worked for the CRA from 2006 until the city took over running the agency in 2012.
Back in the early 2000’s, the city and the CRA called the area “downtown Cape Coral,” Ramey says. And many construction projects were being developed under that name during the nationwide real estate boom.
Then the Great Recession happened, she says, and most of those projects ended.
“That came to a screeching halt,” Ramey says. “Remember at that time, Cape Coral was No. 2 in the greatest (real estate) sales. And then with the downturn, we were No. 2 two in the most foreclosures.”
The rebranding came after that, she says, to rekindle interest in the area. The name was inspired by famous neighborhoods such as South Beach or New York City’s SoHo.
Now, almost two decades after the Great Recession, South Cape is booming again. A whatever you call the area, there’s no denying that growth.
Downtown Cape Coral/South Cape is home to huge events such as Cape Coral Bike Night and the Cape Coral Art Festival. New mixed-use developments with shops and residential space are rising into the sky, such as Bimini Square and The Cove at 47th. And cool bars and restaurants like Aqua and Nice Guys Pizza are drawing in younger, hipper crowds.
South Cape also benefits from the city’s $15 million streetscape project, completed in 2019. The project added landscaping, wider sidewalks, lighting upgrades and more to Southeast 47th Terrace, the heart of South Cape where many of the city’s biggest events happen.
Cape Coral’s place to be for dining and entertainment
Years later, though, people still tend to call the place “downtown Cape Coral.”
The nonprofit South Cape Hospitality and Entertainment Association (SCHEA) hosts monthly bar crawls with limo buses, blood drives and other events to attract people to the area, says new director David Delli Paoli, who’s been a SCHEA employee since it started in 2013.
But just about everyone Delli Paoli meets calls the place “downtown Cape Coral.”
“Depending on who I’m talking to, they have no idea (about South Cape),” says Delli Paoli, who recently acquired SCHEA through his nonprofit Santa Life Foundation and plans to use SCHEA proceeds to help area residents who need mental-health services. “They don’t know the rebranding. So if I’m talking about, ‘Oh, I have this thing going on in South Cape,’ they’re like, ‘Well, where’s that?’ As soon as you say ‘downtown Cape,’ they know what you’re talking about.”
That’s why Delli Paoli prefers the term “entertainment district.” Especially for the core of South Cape surrounding Southeast 47th Terrace and Cape Coral Parkway.
“South Cape” is a too-broad term that could cover the entire southern half of Cape Coral, Delli Paoli says. You tell people “South Cape,” he says, and “they’re going to be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go over to Lobster Lady’ (restaurant in southwestern Cape Coral).”
Complicating matters: The Cape Coral Police Department actually has a THIRD name for the area — one that latches onto that entertainment district idea. They call it The SEED (an abbreviation for the South East Entertainment District), says Cape Police Chief Tony Sizemore.
That name — only used internally by the police department — helps police better pinpoint that smaller, core of shops, restaurants and bars within the CRA/South Cape district. The name further differentiates the area from the police department’s Southeast Precinct — the entire southeastern quarter of Cape Coral. So police know exactly where they’re going when there’s a call for service there.
The SEED has its own specific challenges for police, Sizemore says. That’s why it gets its own designation.
“There’s hundreds of apartment units and parking garages, and it goes up, right?” Sizemore says. “So it’s a vertical, a lot more people in a square foot area. Then you have retail, commercial, businesses, restaurants. … And then at night it becomes bars, restaurants. And pedestrian friendly.
“I mean, there’s just a lot going on. It’s a unique little footprint, and that’s why it’s got a unique name.”
Name aside, downtown Cape Coral has changed a lot
Whichever name they choose, some Cape Coral residents are just happy to the area growing and thriving.
“Up until recently, it didn’t feel like a ‘downtown,’” says Nicole Dahlberg, who calls the area South Cape. “There wasn’t much to do there, and it was kind of dumpy. (I’m) happy to see more walkability, newer businesses (and) restaurants, and people enjoying the area a bit more.”
For Bella Martinez, who calls the place downtown Cape Coral, the name helps show the blending of past and future happening in the area: Old and new businesses, co-existing together in one place.
“It shows growth,” Martinez says. “It shows identity. It shows that Cape Coral is becoming something bigger, while still holding onto what makes it special — our waterfront lifestyle, our community and that laid-back Florida feel.”
The CRA’s former economic development director, for one, thinks the South Cape name will eventually stick.
It’ll just take time.
That’s especially true as more people move to Cape Coral every year, see all those South Cape signs and just go with it. The city is quickly approaching 240,000 residents.
South Cape is bigger than just “downtown,” Ramey says. It’s a fast-growing place with its eye on the future.
“We can’t think of just today,” Ramey says. “We’ve got to think 50 years from now. We’ve got to think 100 years from now. … If you think long-term, though, the name will catch on eventually.”
Do you have an opinion about this topic? Send us a letter to the editor or guest column at mailbag@news-press.com or letters@naplesnews.com.
Charles Runnells covers arts and entertainment for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@usatodayco.com. Follow or message him on Facebook(@charles.runnells.7), Instagram (@crunnells1) and X (@CharlesRunnells).
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Downtown Cape Coral or South Cape? Depends on who you ask
Reporting by Charles Runnells, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
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