A Fort Myers advisory panel has recommended a $24 million tax-break package for the Midtown Yards development, overruling its own consultant, who warned that figure was too risky and urged the city to cap the rebate at $20 million instead. The Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board made the recommendation Wednesday, setting up a decision by the full CRA board on December 2.
Consultant Warned Of Risk, Board Pushed Back
The recommendation came after consultant Joe Gromacki told the board the Midtown Yards project was appealing but that $24 million in tax breaks was too risky, according to Gulfshore Business. Gromacki recommended the CRA approve $20 million instead, but CRA Executive Director Michele Hylton-Terry defended the larger $24 million figure, arguing that his property-tax revenue estimates were too conservative. The advisory board ultimately sided with Hylton-Terry, recommending the $24 million break be spread over 14 years.
CRA Advisory Board member Rachel Smith pushed back repeatedly during the discussion, the outlet's report notes. Smith questioned the size of the request, asked what would happen if the community development district tied to the project could not make its bond payments, and warned that a payment failure could create political pressure on the city down the road. She also raised concerns about moving forward without input from bond counsel and questioned assurances of a strong mixed-use project given a softening market.
How The Rebate Would Work
Fort Myers' tax-increment financing tool works by using a baseline of current property value to calculate the incremental property taxes generated by new improvements, with that increased revenue channeled back into the redevelopment area rather than the general fund. The city's own CRA describes the broader increment-revenue mechanism as a way to capture increased property tax revenue generated by new development and reinvest it back into that same area, according to fortmyerscra.com, which also states that the approach does not raise an individual property owner's taxes. Separately, the CRA's Increment Rebate Program guidelines describe the incentive as a tool meant for projects that provide a community benefit and demonstrate a financial gap, and instruct developers to request only the minimum amount necessary to make a project feasible.
What makes Midtown Yards unusual, per the Gulfshore Business report, is that it would be the first Fort Myers project where CRA tax-increment funds flow to a community development district rather than directly to the developer. A community development district can charge property owners to help fund infrastructure, and property owners typically take over such a district five years after it is created. Developer Joe Bonora, president of Catalyst Community Development, said the TIF funding would cover only infrastructure costs and not the rest of the project, and added that his team spent a year preparing a budget and financial model for the CRA's review.
Infrastructure Costs And The Developer's Own Stake
Midtown Yards infrastructure is projected to cost $32.4 million, with Catalyst Community Development contributing $11 million of its own cash and bond proceeds covering the remaining costs, the outlet reports. That infrastructure figure sits alongside a separate, already-approved commitment: Fort Myers City Council approved a $29,485,399.99 contract for the first phase of Midtown infrastructure improvements, covering underground utility and drainage work, roadway reconstruction, sidewalks, streetlights, street furniture, landscaping and signage, according to WINK News. The station describes the broader Midtown project as a multi-year effort with additional funding expected in future years.
Midtown Yards carries a planned development value of $367 million and is envisioned to include a 152-room hotel, 120,000 square feet of office space, roughly 50,000 square feet of food-and-beverage retail, and an as-yet undetermined number of rental units and homes. Bonora has said he would like to add an educational element to the project, though earlier discussions with a medical school about a medical-school component fell through. The project is expected to be built in a single phase, with completion no earlier than 2031, per Bonora.
From Newspaper Plant To Redevelopment Cornerstone
The project sits on the former News-Press property at the southwest corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Fowler Street, which Fort Myers purchased in 2019 with plans to convert it into a police station before the city sold the site after costs became prohibitive. Catalyst Community Development agreed in 2025 to buy the property for $11.5 million and is now completing due diligence before closing; the site is cornerstone to the broader redevelopment of Midtown, south of downtown Fort Myers. In the meantime, the News-Press site is being used as a staging area for construction of the adjacent new police station, and demolition of the old News-Press building is not expected to begin for at least another year.
How This Compares To Past Fort Myers Rebate Deals
The Midtown Yards debate follows a mixed history of Fort Myers tax-rebate decisions. In 2023, commissioners approved a combined $22.4 million in increment tax rebates for two separate developments, including $11.4 million for an Alessio Development project near State Road 82 and I-75 and $11 million for The Irving, a planned 12-story, 98-unit apartment complex on Bay Street, according to WGCU. Back in 2021, the CRA Advisory Board had voted 5-2 to recommend a rebate capped at $13.4 million for what was then called Montage at Midtown, a $72 million, 321-unit apartment proposal; city commissioners later approved a lower cap of $11,665,217 for the project, then known as Catalyst Midtown Apartments, according to a City of Fort Myers agenda document.
Not every request has cleared the bar. Palm Riverview Holdings sought a TIF rebate of up to $9.1 million for a proposed 279-unit apartment project in East Fort Myers, but the proposal failed to win approval as presented, per Citizen Portal. In that case, the same consultant, Joe Gromacki, had warned that Palm Riverview's original $13.8 million request was infeasible and recommended a narrower $7.2 million to $9.1 million range — a pattern of caution now echoed in his pushback on the larger Midtown Yards figure.
What Happens Next
Under Florida law, community redevelopment agencies may use their redevelopment trust funds to finance or refinance community redevelopment carried out under an approved plan, with the annual tax-increment amount generally set at 95% of the difference between current ad valorem taxes and pre-ordinance assessed value, according to Florida Statutes, § 163.387. Agencies created after July 1, 2002, face a 40-year cap on annual appropriations tied to the fiscal year their initial redevelopment plan was approved. Before the CRA's board of commissioners takes up the Midtown Yards recommendation at its December 2 meeting, Hylton-Terry has said bond counsel will review the proposal.
