Fort Myers Beach, Fla. – DRMP and Town of Fort Myers Beach, Fla., officials celebrated the completion of the newly-redesigned Bayside Park with fanfare, marking an end to eight months of construction.
Officials recently gathered for the reopening of the park for a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included an appearance by Sheena Brook, a Fort Myers Beach singer/songwriter and former contestant on NBC’s hit show “The Voice.” Town of Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy, Vice Mayor Rexann Hosafros and Council Members Dan Allers, Jim Atterholt, and Bill Veach also attended. Town Manager Roger Hernstadt and Public Works Director Jason Freeman also joined in on the celebration.
In 2019, the Fort Myers Beach Town Council contracted with DRMP to redesign and improve Bayside Park, located at Old San Carlos Boulevard and First Street in the beachside downtown district.
DRMP designed the park to include several enhancements, such as a covered stage for entertainers, colorful shade sails, an entrance sign featuring the Town’s new logo, environmentally friendly turf, refurbished brick pavers, benches, landscaping, multicolored lighting and a rain garden at the front of the park, which will house a future veterans’ tribute. The renovated park also includes drinking water fountains for people and dogs and a filling station for water bottles.
“We’re proud to be a part of this important project that converted underutilized public space into a more usable area with elements of shade and color to make it more inviting to the public,” DRMP Project Manager Paul Benvie, PE, said.
“Prior to the renovations, a broken fountain served as the park’s centerpiece, and there were virtually no shaded areas making it difficult for the public to enjoy,” Benvie said.
“We hope residents and visitors will find it to be a fun place,” he said. “I know our local design team looks forward to enjoying the space. We have heard the town plans on scheduling events and concerts in the near future.”
Benvie said the park has an interesting history. It is situated at the landing of the original swing bridge that brought visitors from the mainland (now San Carlos Island) to Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island. In the 1970s, the current fixed span bridge was constructed, and the old bridge was demolished, leaving a piece of defunct right-of-way at the north end of Old San Carlos Boulevard.
While the Town’s main potable water and sewer utilities run through this park and under Matanzas Pass Bridge, at the surface, it sat as a parking lot for many years, Benvie said. In early 2000, the Town commissioned the space to be converted into a fountain park. Unfortunately, the pumps required for the fountain became a maintenance burden and were eventually abandoned, leaving an unbearably hot area that attracted little public usage, Benvie added.
“Because the park sits in the right-of-way with the Town’s main utilities running through it, we had to be cognizant in our redevelopment efforts to not disrupt them and minimize the impact to the surrounding properties,” Benvie said. “At the end of the day, we want to be a good neighbor.”
In conjunction with Bayside Park, DRMP also is redesigning two other iconic areas in Fort Myers Beach –Times Square and Bay Oaks Recreational Campus. Those projects are expected to break ground within the next year and will have similar aspects to Bayside Park, including genuine sand set clay pavers, colorful shade sails, signage, and street furniture.
About DRMP
DRMP is a multi-discipline firm serving clients in the public, private and industrial sectors in the development of infrastructure and has been in business since 1977. DRMP currently employs 500 professionals in 18 office locations spread strategically across our service area. Today, DRMP is ranked among Engineering News-Record’s “Top 500 Design Firms” in the United States. For more information, please visit www.drmp.com.
