It’s been over a year since Fort Myers first addressed the City of Palms Park future, but after a false start talks of a larger redevelopment anchored by a United Soccer League stadium continue.
City of Palms Park was spring-training home of the Boston Red Sox from 1993 to 2011, when the BoSox shifted games a unified training camp at JetBlue Park at Fenway South. Lee County and City of Palms Park negotiated over who would control the facility with the departure of the Red Sox, with Fort Myers winning out after a discussion of whether the ballpark would be demolished. Since then, City of Palms Park served as home to Florida SouthWestern State College until that school opened an on-campus ballpark in 2023, and nothing since.
With both MLS and USL interested in converting the ballpark to a soccer stadium, Fort Myers opened discussions of the City of Palms Park future through a bid process. The initial bid winner was a group called Pitch Prime, which proposed a ballpark conversion to a soccer pitch for an MLS Next Pro team, an expanded skating complex, baseball training facilities and pickleball courts. But after an original bid that called for no public investment, Pitch Prime came back with a request for $18 million in bonding.
That didn’t sit too well with city officials, who decided to deny the Pitch Prime proposal and turned to the second-place bidder, USL, who had proposed a much more ambitious 25-acre redevelopment proposal that includes office, hotel, residential, restaurant and retail, with a total $300 million investment. Part of the funding plan, however, was a bigger ask from USL–$40 million in bonds, backed by the city and paid back by USL. There are a lot of details to be negotiated–locals are not thrilled with including the skating rinks in the mix–but talks are continuing.