Fort Myers' Dunbar affordable housing plan slowed by dispute between developer and contracor

The slowly paced construction aimed at creating a community of affordable and market rate homes, in a city site known as Towles Gardens in east Fort Myers, abruptly shut down more than a month ago.

The building contractor pulled off the job claiming developer Robert Macfarlane came up short in payments for work performed on the site in the Dunbar community.

Macfarlane was not available for comment this week, but employees of his firm have said that there has been an issue with the contractor on the project and no construction activity has taken place for several weeks.

Phillip Springer, took his Easy Shell Construction crews off the Towles Gardens jobs because, he said, Macfarlane had failed to pay the construction company for initial site work for what was to become affordable, resident-owned housing for east Fort Myers, Dunbar and other communities in Lee County.

Easy Shell Construction is based in Sebring, some 75 miles from the Fort Myers construction site.

The company started its work on Towles Gardens by doing ground work on the project, including removal of an overgrowth of trees and performing other jobs to prep it for what is known in the building industry as "vertical" construction.

The company also built a core structure to be used for model homes to lure prospective buyers to at least take a look at the development.

Contractor claims non-payment; pulls workers off job

That structure is a rectangular edifice that rises about two stories high. Easy Shell installed some bracing so that unfinished structure doesn't crash to earth.

The project would mean building 141 units, with sizes ranging from 714 square feet in some units to homes of more than 1,300 square feet, according to Marfarlane's marketing materials.

The planned development would be built on a 7.6-acre parcel at Edison Avenue and Virginia Shoemaker Boulevard. Work has been delayed for weeks, and some officials are concerned that the project could be doomed.

Springer told the News-Press he took his Easy Shell Construction crews off the Towles Gardens site because, he said, he refused to continue working on the job site until Easy Shell is paid. No active work on the site had been gleaned from several inspections of the Towles Garden property by The News-Press over the past several weeks.

The contractor said it took Macfarlane more than a month to object to an invoice work that had been done.

"On June 28, he sent a certified letter disputing fees," Springer said, claiming that the invoice from Macfarlane was 45 days old when it was sent to Easy Shell

"He disputes some additional work I took that as committing to the amount he was going to pay us," Springer said. "I would gladly accept $300,000 and we’ll argue about the $60,000."

Macfarlane owns the land. The city of Fort Myers transferred ownership of the Towles Gardens to Macfarlane. He has since taken a $3.3 million mortgage on the combined the Towles Gardens combined with two 22-story Prima Luce waterfront apartment buildings planned along the Caloosahatchee River outside downtown Fort Myers.

City Councilman Fred Burson said the city of Fort Myers had owned the Towles Garden property and gifted it to the Macfarlane interests to get the building constructed. Burson voted against the transfer of title in the land to Macfarlane, on the grounds that the city had no guarantee Towles Gardens would become a reality.

"We gifted him the land with the goal that he would go vertical and if he doesn't go vertical it would be our money to keep," Burson said. "I didn't want to give him land just to be gifting it and then have him sell it or do whatever he wants."

When Easy Shell construction crews were pulled off the the Dunbar job, many were sent to work on another company projects on Sanibel. Easy Shell is working under 10 permits granted by the city of Sanibel, according to the city's licensing and permit technician. Both public and private property in Sanibel were heavily damaged Sept. 28 during Hurricane Ian's landfall.

Councilmember Johnny Streets has been the city's most earnest advocate of the Towles Garden development, as much for the boost it brings to a community hungry for basic housing, seeing completion of the project as demonstrating a deeper interest in better housing alternatives.

"I'm very concerned about Towles Gardens, but I look at all the other issues we are concerned about, people watch this stuff," Streets said. "I hope it can come to fruition, I surely would like to see it get started ... we have to be held accountable and responsible."

The dispute means community expectations that the long-planned project would bring housing ownership opportunities are uncertain. Five years after promises were made for a residential community with both market rate and affordable housing, construction remains stalled, and prospective buyers continue to wait.

Macfarlane companies have built apartment buildings in and near downtown. They won the bidding to bring the Dunbar proposal from the drawing board to reality. Plans for the 7.6-acre parcel called for a development in which the homes would include half affordable ownership and half at market rate.

Macfarlane has hired Mike Love, who has previously worked on housing issues with the city planning agency and the NAACP on community development issues.

Interest in the project has been strong, Love said, with applicants for working with the developer's sales operation to qualify for loans and grants that can be used for a down payment.

A key player in the development, Roy Kinnick, a long time urban planner and advocate for redevelopment of downtown areas around the country was also associated with the project, but died last week.

A Macfarlane representative said the Prima Luce project had been delayed because a 14-foot sailboat that had run aground during Hurricane Ian nearly 10 months ago, would have to be removed from waters off the site of the two towers.

No explanation was available as to how a boat in the river could bring construction of a building to a halt.

"He said he was capable, and I took him at his word," said Burson, who has spent his professional career in commercial real estate sales. "My patience has run out."

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Towles Gardens affordable housing stalled by payment dispute