A culinary theater featuring world-renowned chefs is among the attractions planned at an upcoming 12-story hotel in Fort Myers, Florida.
Chefs will teach culinary techniques to guests as well as the general public at the Autograph Collection hotel, which has not been named. Autograph Collection is one of Marriott’s top lifestyle hotel brands.
The 225-room property will also include retail shops and a diner on the ground level. A signature restaurant will be located on the fourth floor of the building—where the hotel starts—but it will stand alone.
The new Florida hotel will be connected to Harborside Event Center, which consists of more than 30,000 sq. ft. of multipurpose space, including an upscale prefunction lobby and grand foyer entrance with stunning river and park views.
Mainsail Lodging and Development, which present design plans for the new hotel on Monday, has proposed building a band shell amphitheater in Centennial Park for public and private use. The city first needs to figure out what it wants to do with a boat dock before more information can be provided about the amphitheater, said City Manager Saeed Kazemi.
Kazemi said that city officials would discuss the issue at the first city meeting in March.
Construction of the hotel could start as early as this April, and it is scheduled to open in late 2018, said Brian Check, a developer with Mainstay.
City leaders expect this project to drive more development within the city. All aspects of the hotel were designed to complement the River District look.
