ESTERO, Fla. — What looks like an empty lot now will soon be home to a new hotel in walking distance from Hertz Arena on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway in Estero.
The Hoffmann family purchased the arena last year and has plans for expansion that include an estimated 150-room hotel and small conference center. David Hoffmann, Chairman of Hoffmann Family and Companies says as a developer he seized the opportunity.
“That’s what we do, we're developers and re-developers and said this makes sense for a hotel and we want to be in that business in a small way up there, so we decided to build this hotel,” said David Hoffmann.
He says the demand for growth is high in the Estero area.
“I think there’s like 18,000 housing permits in the Estero area and with that creates demand for all kinds of different things and we think the hotel and hospitality industry is going to benefit from that,” said Hoffmann.
At this time they have not broken ground, but Hoffmann says it's happening very soon.
“We are still in discussion with the land that’s probably going to get closed in the next 30 days and then we will get our permitting going with the City of Estero who has been great to work with and we'll break ground we hope in 90 - 120 days,” said Hoffmann.
Hoffmann emphasizing this expansion is major and he's also in talks with Florida Gulf Coast University.
“It’s going to be 150 units. We think at this moment in time it could expand from there maybe to 200. We are going to have a small conference center and we're going to hopefully tie that in with the university if they want to be involved and all indications are that they want to be involved,” said Hoffmann.
He plans to continue growing and developing here in Southwest Florida.
“The last 3 years we’ve bought 31 properties in and around Southwest Florida and so we see the demand for all kinds of things happening in Southwest Florida we think this is one of the biggest growth drivers in the United States," said Hoffmann.
Hoffmann says he has enjoyed working with the City of Estero and predicts this project will be completed in the next 18 months.
