Cape Harbour shops, restaurants, set to open

Cape Coral Daily Breeze, Sep. 30, 2006

By RYAN REITERMAN, reiterman@breezenewspapers.com

One of the main ideas behind Cape Harbour is to have an entire living experience in one place. By Christmas, that idea will come to life when several retail shops and restaurants open to the public.

And Laura Straus, managing broker of Realmark Realty Group, wants to stress “open to the public.”

“We want everyone to feel comfortable here,” Straus said. “We want a wide range of age groups here.”

The 11,000 square feet of retail shops will be located in front of two high-rise condominium buildings, and along the banks of the marina.

The shops will include high-end specialty shops such as art studios, island boutiques, salons and jewelry stores.

The restaurants scheduled to open are Pignoli, a catering and gourmet groceries shop by award-winning chef Robert Cardoos of Boston; The Joint, a casual dining experience that will feature brickoven pizzas; Longboards at The Joint, an outdoor bar adjacent to the Joint; and Runagrounds, a coffee shop by day, and an ice cream shop by night.

A farmer’s market is also scheduled to open next year.

No “big-box” or similar-type stores, such as Starbucks, will be opening in Cape Harbour. Will Stout, owner of the Realmark Realty Group, said he wants to create a “family of merchants” at Cape Harbour.

Stout said they interview every potential merchant to make sure they are good people, and that they have good business concepts.

“When your whole reputation hangs on what kind of a job they’re doing, you need them to be first-class people and run a first-class business or it isn’t fun,” Stout said.

Councilmember Dick Stevens, whose district includes the Cape Harbour development, hailed the news of the upcoming openings.

“I’d say great,” he said Friday. “It’s about time, we’ve been waiting for this.”

The addition of waterfront shopping and dining is a good addition to the mix of businesses in the city, he said.

“This is different, it’s more upscale, it’s something better, nicer than what we have had until now,” he said. “I know others are coming, in Tarpon Point and the (downtown) CRA and we’ll be very happy when that happens.” This should not be construed as a negative comment towards what is already here, he added.

“Now, I’m not putting down any of the businesses that are here,” Stevens said.

It’s more a comment on the changes the Cape has seen over the years, he said, adding he remembers the excitement at the city’s first fast-food establishment, a “fish place on Del Prado.”

“We were so happy to finally get a fast-food place in Cape Coral,” Stevens said, and laughed. “Now we’re attracting the name brand restaurants.”