Groundbreaking for high-rise condo in downtown Fort Myers expected by year-end

MacFarlane Barney Development plans to start construction of a two-building, 22-story condominium in downtown Fort Myers by year-end.

Prices for the 220 units at the planned Prima Luce condominium start in the $200,000s, and about 50 of them are under contract. The estimated cost of the Fort Myers development is $120 million.

Rebekah MacFarlane Barney, chief operating officer of the development company, told the Business Observer that the many of the pre-construction buyers are Fort Myers residents and Midwesterners with a connection to the city.

Barney also told the Business Observer that her company has “taken what we’ve learned at our other projects in the area … and we’ve applied those lessons to Prima Luce.”

MacFarlane Barney Development expects to presell half of the units at Prima Luce by the end of 2018 and to finish construction of the condominium in 2020.

The company is now building a new concrete seawall at the two-acre Prima Luce development site, which will replace a seawall that Hurricane Irma damaged last year.

MacFarlane Barney Development is marketing views of the Caloosahatchee River from Prima Luce along with such amenities as a heated swimming pool, a yoga studio, fitness center, social room and virtual concierge services.

Prima Luce will compete with another condo developer in downtown Fort Myers, Doral-based JAXI Builders,  which has a pair of high-rise condo projects with a total of 325 units priced from $285,000 to $2.8 million.

Barney told the Business Observer that JAXI’s developments won’t deter the Prima Luce project. [Business Observer] – Mike Seemuth