The Luminary Hotel has delayed its opening by one month, with a tentative date in mid-September.
The downtown hotel is near completion and was expected to open in August, but the pandemic has pushed that date by about a month and a half.
Nori Guevara, a spokeswoman, said the hotel opening is set for Sept. 17, “however, there are many moving pieces between now and then.”
The 243-room hotel on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River had been expected to open in August alongside the Caloosa Sound Convention Center & Amphitheater, which is the newly renovated Harborside Event Center.
The $92 million hotel and convention center had its first conference booked for October of this year. It’s unclear if that is still happening as conferences have been canceled across the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The convention center, however, is scheduled to host a Home & Garden Show on Sept. 19 and 20.
To prepare for the opening, the hotel is offering a sneak peak tour to the media and select community members on July 18. The public is invited to participate in the hotel’s social media contest on Facebook and Instagram to try to get one of three spots in the private tour.
More: Luminary Hotel: Five things to know about Fort Myers' rising downtown hotel
The contest is capped at three winners plus their guests in order to maintain social distancing, Guevara said. Masks will also be provided for the hard hat tour.
The 12-story hotel will include more than 8,000 square feet of function space. The rooms are priced in the upper $100s to low $200s range. Reservations are available starting Nov. 1, said Guevara. A room for Nov. 1 was going for $215 this week.
Its restaurants include the Silver King Ocean Brasserie, Ella Mae's Diner, The Workshop and Beacon Social Drinkery and Oxbow Bar & Grill.
The hotel is part of a public-private partnership between the city of Fort Myers and Mainsail Development of Tampa that would bring a luxury hotel part of the Autograph Collection, a Marriot International portfolio of high-end boutique properties.
The partnership grants the Tampa developer a lease of the property for 99 years, paying rent to the city on a sliding scale that tops off at 3.5% of hotel revenues. The city will build a $12 million public parking garage attached to the hotel.
More: Fort Myers' Luminary Hotel, set to open in August 2020, first convention already booked
The city’s total cost is $22.8 million in renovations to the event center, which has been vacant for at least two years, and for the garage.
The city has planned for a hotel on the Edwards Drive property for a long time. It’s been planned since 1999 when Hilton Hotels was part of the conversation. That fell through for lack of funding. A Sheraton Hotel was also planned in 2016, but that idea fizzled.
This coronavirus delay is not the first for the hotel, which was supposed to open in 2019 but was slowed because of deed issues. Legal proceedings delayed construction after a group of descendants of early Fort Myers residents challenged the hotel because the deed forbade use of the land for business.
“From the outside, it’s really starting to shape up,” said Kevin Anderson, councilman for Ward 4, where the hotel is located. “We are wishing it great success. I imagine they are going to be faced with some challenges. How difficult the challenges remains to be seen.”
More: Convention center formerly known as Harborside has a new name
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July 07, 2020 at 04:16PM
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Opening of Luminary Hotel delayed by one month due to pandemic - News-Press
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