FGCU helped make Ben Hill Griffin Parkway a destination

In the late 1990s, a drive down Alico Road from Interstate 75 to Florida Gulf Coast University looked much different than it does today. 

Fast-food restaurants didn't line Alico, and traffic lights didn't impede drivers. Mostly trees aligned the road. 

Gulf Coast Town Center didn't occupy the corner of Alico and Ben Hill Griffin. 

Million-dollar houses didn't sit behind the trees on the road named for a state icon. 

The area that surrounds FGCU has seen a massive amount of growth the past 20 years. Much of it has come on the heels of FGCU sprouting from what was once swampland.

"The university is among the 20 largest employers in Southwest Florida, so FGCU undoubtedly has a profound educational and economic impact on our community,” said Margaret Antonier, president and CEO of Miromar Development. “That impact isn’t isolated to just a few miles around campus. The entire five-county region benefits from the presence of FGCU.”

Some experts say the growth east of I-75 was inevitable, even if FGCU had not come along. Others say while the school may not be the main reason for the growth, it certainly is a catalyst.

“That area is in the process of exploding,” said Denny Grimes, a real estate expert and owner of Denny Grimes & Co. “It would have anyway without FGCU because Naples is meeting Fort Myers in the middle. The biggest growth is yet to happen.”

Stephanie Miller, president and owner of Select Real Estate, said she thinks there are three reasons for the growth: the area being located between Naples and Fort Myers and the construction of the interstate and Southwest Florida International Airport.

"But at this point, the driver for the future is the university in that immediate area," she said.

Miller said an announcement will be made soon about a project at Cypress View and Estero Parkway. She said she has interns from FGCU exploring what students believe should be included in the development.

"We have the Town Center, which is great, but there are some things they lack," Miller said. "(Students) drive too far right now to go to entertainment at night. They either go to Fort Myers or south. There are lots of things ... the kids would like to have closer to them so they don't have to drive so far."

Randy Thibaut, president of Land Solutions, also doesn't think FGCU was the single catalyst that spurred the growth. He said it has been a combination of Miromar Development's investments in the area, FGCU and Gulf Coast Town Center. 

"I think that FGCU in combination with the retail growth and residential growth that's occurred there has brought all different types of demographics and economics ... from millennial students to multimillionaires," he said. 

"It's like baking a cake. It was all the ingredients put together that made the perfect meal."

A place to live and shop

FGCU opened its doors to students on Aug. 25, 1997. The school plans to recognize the milestone from 20 years ago on Aug. 25, with a campus wide celebration. 

The university became a reality after the state decided to take Ben Hill Griffin III's offer to build a school on 760 acres of donated land east of I-75 between Alico and Corkscrew roads.

When the school opened, 2,584 students were enrolled. Last school year, the number of students stood at 14,821.

As FGCU has grown from a sleepy school out in the woods, the area around it has become known as a shopping destination and a place to build gated communities with golf courses and boat docks.

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With all the growth, the area has become a busy corridor. The annual average daily traffic count south of Alico Road on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway was 8,000 vehicles in 2003. In 2016, the count was 22,800. 

South of FGCU is Corkscrew Road. In the late 1990s, parts of Corkscrew were a sea of trees. Several residential developments have been built along the road since. In 1998, only Wildcat Run existed between Ben Hill Griffin and Alico roads.

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“Unequivocally, FGCU is the primary force that has shaped that (area),” said Stan Stouder, founder of CRE Consultants. “I think that (area) would have developed, but the shape, the depth, the color is absolutely influenced if not driven by FGCU.”

Stouder mentioned WildBlue, a project proposed by Private Equity Group, as well as other projects such as Pepperland Ranch and The Place at Corkscrew still to come off Corkscrew Road.

“All that is influenced by FGCU,” Stouder said. “Even Ave Maria is influenced by FGCU. The energy from those universities together attracts a demographic that may not have been attracted in the same quality if FGCU wasn’t there."

One of the biggest investors in the area is Miromar Development.

Miromar Outlets, which is more than 600,000 square feet and includes more than 140 stores and restaurants, is about two miles from FGCU at Corkscrew Road. Construction of the mall started in 1997.

Construction started on Miromar Lakes Beach and Golf Club in 2000. It sits on both sides of Ben Hill Griffin Parkway north of FGCU and consists of more than 1,100 houses. New homes are selling for $1.2 million to more than $7 million.

The Miromar Design Center was finished in 2006. It is home to 45 home furnishing stores.

In the spring, Miromar started building another project — University Village  — just south of the school. It will include retail shops, restaurants and housing for students.

Antonier said she began acquiring land in south Lee County in 1995 after recognizing the area was poised for residential and commercial growth.

She said its location between Naples and Fort Myers and its closeness to the airport, I-75 and beaches "meant Miromar Outlets, Miromar Lakes and the Ben Hill Griffin corridor would develop into the geographic, residential and economic center of Southwest Florida."

Protecting the environment

But when discussions about putting FGCU along Ben Hill Griffin Parkway began, not everyone was happy about it. 

Environmentalists were concerned about how the construction of the university and the future growth around it would affect wildlife, wetlands and water quality. 

In 1990, Lee County created the Density Reduction Groundwater Resource area or the DRGR. The designation, which included the land where FGCU is located and the surrounding land, put limits on development. It was created to protect the water supply.

But when FGCU came about, Lee County decided to lift some of the restrictions and created a designation for the land surrounding the school called the University Community.

Nicole Johnson, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida's environmental policy director, thinks the decision created the "economic engine to drive development within that area."

The conservancy believes that when developers propose projects in the area they should include environmental enhancements that go above and beyond rather than using set standards "as the high bar to start negotiating downward," Johnson said. 

"It's not about stopping growth," she said. "It's about finding the most appropriate way to accommodate growth. And as the coastal areas are pretty much built out, it's the rural agriculture lands, including the DRGR, that are really being targeted for growth and intensification."

Growth will continue but might be limited

One thing environmentalists and real estate experts agree on about the area is that it's going to see more growth.

“You won’t recognize it 20 years from now,” Grimes said. 

Doug Meschko, market research director for Land Solutions, said he thinks the area will continue to see residential and commercial development. 

"It's probably going to be one of the more expensive places to live, but I also see growth continuing there as long as they can grow or they have the room to grow," he said.

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FGCU may have some say in how the area continues to develop depending on how the school grows, said Christopher Westley, director of the Regional Economic Research Institute at FGCU.

FGCU's student population grew at a rapid rate until the state stopped rewarding schools financially based on student population. When the state switched in 2014 to performance-based funding, FGCU slowed its growth.

"We all know that the student demand is huge and much bigger than our current enrollment shows," Westley said. "If that demand ever starts to become more satisfied, then you probably would see that footprint expand and then it would influence the area around it moving forward."