Guns, cars and glass art: Cape Coral event highlights shifting business scene, new developments

A shooting range, glass art studio, car dealership, biotech lab and boat manufacturing facility were among the new and expanding businesses celebrated by Cape Coral residents, business owners and city officials Tuesday night.

Catch the Vision, an event in its seventh year billed as a "real estate look forward," was put on by the city's economic development office and held at Cape Christian church on Chiquita Boulevard South and Veterans Parkway. It featured a rundown of companies starting new ventures and expanding in Cape Coral, as well as a look back at some recent business successes the city has seen.

The developments highlighted at Tuesday night's event included:

• A new $32 million assisted living and memory care facility at Gulf Coast Village that opened in April, and a $5.9 million renovation of existing assisted living units into skilled-nursing units, that will be done at the end of January
• A new Nissan dealership on Pine Island Road near Northeast 24th Avenue that owners are hoping to break ground on by the end of this year
• A metal manufacturing company that opened Jan. 1
• A biotech laboratory and manufacturing company that's hiring lab personnel and expanding its  facility in North Cape
• A new lab and design center at AAE Glass art studio that opened earlier this month
• A new restaurant at the Caloosa Club in the recently reopened Cape Royal Golf Club, whose complete 27-hole course will be open by the end of the year
• A new A1 Shelters facility that recently broke ground and is expected to open in Spring 2019 and will include 500-600 units
• An animal shelter planning to break ground in March
• A new gun range, which opened this summer
• A new Nor-Tech manufacturing facility in North Cape Industrial Park, as well as the shifting of the company's global headquarters to Cape Coral in the coming years
• A new ballroom at The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village, which will open in early 2018
• A new 188-acre luxury motorcoach resort breaking ground in early 2018, located near Burnt Store Road and Durden Parkway

The city's Economic Development Manager, Dana Brunett, revealed some other businesses coming to the Cape in 2018, including a Burlington Coat Factory store and a Panera Bread restaurant. He said construction will also begin next year on a 30-unit condo in South Cape, and that two other car dealerships – one selling Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep cars, and one whose brand "has yet to be announced" – will come in near the Wal-Mart across the street from the forthcoming Nissan dealership on Pine Island Road.

“I think 2018 is going to be a really good year for us. Hurricane Irma punched us in the nose, but we came back strong," Brunett said, adding that disaster loans through the city’s Small Business Administration are still available for another 10 days.

More:Panera Bread, organic grocery store, and more coming to Cape Coral in 2018

City Manager John Szerlag talked about the status of several closely-followed projects across the city that he said will be moving along with developments in the year to come, including Bimini Basin, Seven Islands and an academic village.

Tuesday's event included a mock newscast with a segment that featured developer Dan Creighton of Creighton Construction & Development, who announced that a new national retail chain coming near Cape Coral Parkway and Del Prado Boulevard. He also said "the elusive" site at Santa Barbara Boulevard and Veterans Parkway will include a 30,000-square-foot organic grocery store.

Dan Creighton's got a vision for Cape Coral

"Retail is our friend," Creighton said. "We're going to bring new jobs and new experiences to Cape Coral."

Realtor Gloria Tate, one of the event's organizers, said the theme for this year's event was hoping for bigger and better in Cape Coral. 

"Sometimes you have to talk about a project for five to 10 years before it actually gets done," Tate said, adding that the gun range, Westin ballroom and Gulf Coast Village expansion have all been in the works for some time.

Related: Shoot Center has Cape Coral all fired up, indoor gun range opening Saturday

Darla Bonk, president of sales and operations with Architectural Metal Flashings, said the metal manufacturing company chose to open its 12,000-square-foot space in Cape Coral this year because of the convenient location and available space. She and her husband and President, Jeff, work with roofers around the state, including in Babcock Ranch and Naples, so she said it was the "right place, right time" for a move to Cape Coral.

Bonk said working with the city's economic development office was helpful, but she said the permitting process was a little cumbersome. On what was supposed to be the final walk-through with inspectors, she was told she had to build a firewall that she and her husband hadn't accounted for.

She also said the company missed out on about $50,000 worth of perks from the city because they didn't know they were available.

"There's businesses that are here that may be moving because they don't know these perks are available to them," she said. "We voiced that you may want to increase your visibility to them."

Kevin Ahmadi, executive director of Gulf Coast Village, said this time last year, he was "sharing the vision" for Palmview, the new 131,000-square-foot assisted living facility that now has 90 of 128 units occupied. The new facility was phase one of a larger plan to expand the facility, phase two of which includes adding more skilled-nursing units by the end of January specifically for those just coming out of the hospital. Ahmadi said the phases will create more than 400 jobs.

"I have to give credit where credit is due," Ahmadi said. "I know that in the past there are those who would say that working with the city of Cape Coral is somewhat difficult, and we didn’t experience that."