Butterfly Estates butterflies find new homes in SW FL after Fort Myers attraction closes

Good news from The Butterfly Estates: The Fort Myers tourist attraction may have closed its butterfly house last week, but its approximately 400 butterflies all have new homes now.

“I’m very, very happy,” says former butterfly house curator Sherri Williams. “They all have homes and all in good spots where there’s plenty of nectar and plenty of plants for them to continue their life cycle.”

The butterfly house/conservatory abruptly closed Friday, July 28, just one day after the new owners of The Butterfly Estates told the conservatory staff they had to shut their doors for good. Williams says they were given a week or two to empty the place of its butterflies, turtles, koi and other creatures.

Just four days later, the last of those animals have all found new homes, Williams says. She and other workers and volunteers stayed to make sure the creatures could continue their life cycle elsewhere.

“I quit getting paid on Friday, you know,” Williams says. “I went in there Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday just from the goodness of my heart. Because I care about them, the creatures.”

New homes for the butterflies: 'We’re just trying to save them'

The butterfly house’s koi fish went to the Shell Factory Nature Park in North Fort Myers, and the turtles to a private home in Punta Gorda, Williams says.

As for those butterflies, they were divided among three Southwest Florida locations: The Bella Terra neighborhood in Estero, Rotary Park in Cape Coral and Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center in Punta Gorda.

About 400 butterflies were captured in nets, put in enclosures and driven to their new homes, Williams says.  “We moved them to the spots and let them go.”

Butterflies only live two to four weeks, Williams says, but their new homes will allow them to continue their life cycles into future generations. “They’re going to lay eggs and it’s going to continue the cycle of my babies.”

Williams says she was inundated with phone calls and messages after The Butterfly Estates announced it was closing last week. Many of those callers wanted to take in the butterflies and other creatures.

One of those calls came from Bella Terra resident and butterfly lover Dawn Mack. Williams and the Butterfly Estates gave them tips and information for starting their neighborhood butterfly garden four years ago, Mack says, so they wanted to return the favor.

Bella Terra took some giant swallowtail butterfly caterpillars and also about 25 butterflies of various types.

“We’re just trying to save them,” Mack says. “Butterfly people just help each other out. … The Butterfly Estates is going to be missed.”

The Butterfly Estates: Death of a Fort Myers tourist attraction

The Butterfly Estates had been a downtown fixture since it opened in 2009 with the butterfly house/conservatory − also known as the The Florida Native Butterfly Society Conservatory ― and a renovated trio of early 20th century houses. The tourist attraction worked hand-in-hand with the Florida Native Butterfly Society, a nonprofit with more than 4,000 members.

The Estates had a butterfly breeding program to collect butterfly eggs from the conservatory, nurture the resulting caterpillars and then ― once those cocooned and emerged as butterflies ― release the butterflies into the wild. The idea was to help replenish Florida’s butterfly population.

Williams compares the closing of the butterfly house to a death in the family. She’s worked there and cared for the butterflies and other creatures for 5 ½ years.

“It’s hard to believe the emotions,” Williams says. “I mean, I literally feel like I’ve had a close death in my family and I’m going through mourning. …

“It was 5 ½ years, and it was a passion thing. Yes, I was a paid employee, but I was there because I loved to be there.”

The Butterfly Estates property includes the butterfly house/conservatory, DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery & Gifts, Thrifty Garden garden center and the restaurant/coffee shop bullig.

All the other businesses remain open for now, although Thrifty Garden has already announced it will close Aug. 27.

It's unclear what happens to the butterfly society now, Williams says. But the nonprofit’s mission will continue, she says, with volunteers raising caterpillars at home on their own and releasing the butterflies into the wild.

Why did the Butterfly Estates close?

The abrupt closing came after a Coral Springs-based group of  investors, 7091 Pinnacle LLC, bought The Shops at The Butterfly Estates property for roughly $975,000, according to one of the group’s partners, Devon Benjamin.

Benjamin said last week that he never intended for The Butterfly Estates butterfly house to shut its doors.

He said he offered the former owner, Rob Johnson, the opportunity to keep the place open, rent free, until he and his investors figured out what to do with the property. But Johnson and his business partner declined, he said, and gave them just a few days to take over running the butterfly house.

Benjamin said there’s no way he and his investors could have taken over a business in such a short timeframe ― a matter of a few days ― even if they’d wanted. Plus they’re not set up to run a business, pay employees and take on insurance and other liabilities, he added.

“The whole thing’s become a mess,” Benjamin said. “You know, look, I know I’m the bad guy to them and I get it. I feel horrible."

Johnson didn’t return a voicemail message seeking comment. But a statement posted to the Butterfly Estates' Facebook page Monday gave several reasons for the sale. Williams says it was Johnson who wrote the post.

“Building this attraction was a family mission to thank our community for all its given us,” the statement said. “Family loss, cost of renovation and long term illness was the catalyst for our difficult decision to move on.”

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The statement also said the new owners had expressed “enthusiasm to continue our mission with intentions to create more experiences to enhance the business. We look forward to seeing that come to fruition.”

Benjamin said last week that he’s interested in continuing the butterfly house and combining it with art for an immersive experience, but that decision is ultimately up to the investors.

Here’s the full statement from Johnson:

"Thank you for all your messages of support! We know you have read or seen the news on the closing of our butterfly conservatory. It took 20 years to establish the population of native butterflies and renovation of the surrounding property. We would like to thank former Redevelopment Director Don Paight for his diligence in bringing the business to fruition.

"The new owners purchased the property on May 17th with enthusiasm to continue our mission with intentions to create more experiences to enhance the business. We look forward to seeing that come to fruition. We are eternally grateful to the incredible staff, friends and wonderful people we got to work with over the years. Building this attraction was a family mission to thank our community for all its given us. Family loss, cost of renovation and long term illness was the catalyst for our difficult decision to move on.”

Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. For news tips or other entertainment-related matters, call him at 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him at crunnells@gannett.com. You can also connect with him on Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), Twitter (@charlesrunnells), Threads (@crunnells1) and Instagram (@crunnells1).

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Butterfly Estates butterflies find homes in Cape Coral, Estero, Punta Gorda