Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor

FMBGN-BIZ-The Pier Group-How Smart Redevelopment Can Restore Community Without Losing The Island’s Soul

• "Cabo" Jim Schaller • Season 5 • Episode 40

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Shovel-ready isn’t enough when your town lives on salt air, neighborly kindness, and a street-level rhythm that makes strangers feel welcome. We sit down with realtor and community builder Dennis Wagaman to map out how Fort Myers Beach can bring back small and mid-sized commercial spaces without losing what makes the island feel like home. The plan is simple to say and hard to do: respect the vibe, modernize where the codes demand it, and find reasonable middle ground so projects actually pencil.

We unpack why Fort Myers Beach behaves like a micro market—more investors and absentee owners, different price drivers, and a sharper focus on highest and best use. Dennis explains the friction between a comprehensive plan written before elevated building rules and the real-world need to replace lost ground-level space. No one’s asking for skyscrapers; the goal is controlled, complementary growth that gives local entrepreneurs real storefronts, creates jobs, and restores a walkable main street for residents and returning visitors. Tourism is back, traffic is a reality, and that’s a good problem when it funds a resilient, service-rich community.

Community energy is rising too. Dennis highlights What’s Up FMB, a new alliance hosting events that showcase local businesses—think lantern festivals, summer fireworks, and reasons to explore beyond the shoreline. Add classic island moments like dolphin-chasing boat rides, quiet northern sunsets, and a lineup of favorite restaurants, and you see the path forward: keep the people the same while the buildings get smarter. If you care about coastal redevelopment, local small business revival, and the future of Fort Myers Beach, this conversation gives you clear context and practical optimism.

Subscribe for more neighbor-first stories, share this with someone who loves the island, and leave a review with one idea you think would help small businesses reopen faster.

Realty One Group MVP - The Pier Group
Dennis Wagaman
5237 Summerlin Commons Blvd
Fort Myers, FL 33907
Mobile: (239) 940-7749
dwswfl@gmail.com
Website

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Intro/Close:

Welcome to the fortified speed negative podcast. No shade is the five. Positive five. Local negative local papers. What is the island of characters every day? We are the good neighbors and businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener and local stories of divided island life. Here's a celebrating hall that makes Fort Mighty's Beach the lights of paradise we all love. Make this island feel like home. With your host, Cabo Jimmy Cheller.

Cabo Jim:

Welcome, Fort Miters Beach, good neighbors. Today we have good neighbor Dennis Wagaman from uh Reality One Group MVP and his newly formed the peer group, correct? Absolutely, yes. Good morning, Jim. Yeah, pleasure to have you on and share your story with our listeners here. So uh without further ado, you've made a big change recently. So uh let's jump right in and why don't you share a little bit about what you're doing currently?

SPEAKER_01:

Sure, thank you very much. Uh yeah, there's um you know uh a big need, a huge need actually on the island for small and mid-sized commercial redevelopment. Um, you know, places like the the you know, the small businesses, they need brick and mortar to work out of. Um, and we don't have that right now. We have a lot of vacant lots that are commercial lots that need to be redeveloped. Um, and that is really uh very important for our island's economy and just you know, quality of life on the beach as well. Um, visually, it's certainly going to be a lot better once we get some of these uh rebuilt. So that's my mission now is to focus on getting our small and mid-sized commercial sectors rebuilt. So that's why I formed the peer group. This is my focus. I'm partnering with another organization uh called Spring Lake Capital. And uh we've got some nice projects already lined up that we're redeveloping at this time, um, and some more things in the pipeline that we're working on. So again, we're really focused on this because our vacationers, you know, let's face it, they love our island, they keep coming back. Um, we want to give them something nicer than you know the food trucks to go and enjoy a nice meal in. Uh although they're great right now, I hang out at them myself. Um, Mojo's is my favorite. I'll just say that right out loud. Uh, awesome people there, you know, great food. Uh I love the avocado toast, they take great care of me. Um, so but we want to give them a building to operate out of. So that's the mission I'm on right now.

Cabo Jim:

And the dog likes that too. I like it. That's my boy, Sonny.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, right, right. Perfect timing. Someone comes to the door to drop off a package.

Cabo Jim:

Right, there you go. He's watching the house. That's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01:

But but we need uh that's some of my uh actually, some of my for sale signs just got delivered.

Cabo Jim:

No, there you go. We we need to get them out in the neighborhood then, right? I love it. I love it. So, like you mentioned, I mean, you know, we do need a lot of those small to medium-sized businesses coming back, you know. Absolutely, absolutely. So, why Fort Myers Beach?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, uh, how long have you been here? Uh, I've been here in uh in this area since 2015. Okay, and my wife and I relocated down here. We've always like a lot of folks, you know, we've heard this story a lot of times, yeah, you know, want to retire down here, just love the area, uh, love the community, um, just love the whole Southwest Florida vibe, you know. Um, just lay back, relax, good people. Um, so uh, but I've been in real estate specifically since 2019 on Fort Myers Beach, and um just love it. Um and as uh I guess as corny as it might sound, it's absolutely the fact. You know, there's sun, surf, and sand all over the world, literally, right? I mean, beautiful places all over the world. And I've been I've been fortunate to travel you know a little bit in my time. But um, I've never been anywhere else in my life where the people are just so amazing. And I mean that from my heart. I just met some of the nicest people, most down-to-earth people um ever on Fort Myers Beach, and it's just so refreshing. You know, it's just a refreshing lifestyle. You know, um, if somebody's walking across the street down here, we don't honk horns and you know wave at everybody with the wrong finger, right? Yeah, we just kind of slow down, relax, let them pass comfortably, and then we go on our way, you know. We sort of hold doors open for each other, say please and thank you. We sort of know how to behave, and that's just a refreshing way to live. And I just love it. Just love it.

Cabo Jim:

It's a different lifestyle, it's a much calmer, you know, and friendlier. And that's I and I appreciate like what you're trying to do because we do need a lot of those businesses to create that sense of community, you know. No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

And there's there's a lot of great, smart, hardworking, dedicated business owners on the island, also. Um, that yeah, they're here for business. Let's face it, we're not here for the practice, okay. But they choose to dedicate themselves and be committed to what they're doing. Uh, and they care about the island. Whenever you know there's a need, people just rally. You know, it's like a given. It's it's it's a second nature, no one has to really think about it, it just sort of happens. Okay, so those are those are some of the things that I just find uh so appealing and so wonderful about the island.

Cabo Jim:

Well, yeah, and you know, and to anybody else, you know, having a business, working on the island, living on the island sounds like a dream. But you know, we've we've dealt with a lot of storms and a lot of issues, personally and professionally. Um what's what have you gone through to get where you are today?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh tremendous learning curve. The island is a unique product, if you will, and they and the big picture, you know, up at the headline banner of real estate. Okay, we're a very unique market. We're a micro market. We do not behave like other traditional organic neighborhood type markets, even as close as right across in the mainland, you know, in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, um, these other markets, completely different behaviors. Um the overwhelming majority of property on the island is owned by absentee owners. Uh, it's owned by someone who has their second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh vacation home. Um, a lot of properties are owned by investors. Um, a lot of properties are owned by groups of investors. So there's a completely different dynamic down here. So, what does that mean? That means people are generally speaking, again, we're not talking about the wonderful residents and the people who live here. That's a that's a different set of circumstances there. But for the other part that drives the majority of our business and our activity on the island being uh absentee owners, that means they're buying and selling their properties using the mindset of discretionary money or investment capital. This isn't their primary residence where you can have completely different drivers making our decisions. Okay. So what else does that mean? That means that properties on the island are not as subject to the swings in the market as they are when we're talking about a generic neighborhood, or excuse me, a organic neighborhood or an organic marketplace. Again, completely different drivers making uh different decisions based on different parameters. So that's what we need to understand about the island. Um, you know, price points are different on the BH. Uh, we look at rate of appreciation calculated into ROI when we're looking at investment opportunity. And we're also looking at, you know, what can the highest and best use be of a property on the island relative to the current zoning, relative to um how the property needs to be situated on the on the um on the lot that we're developing? So there's a lot of drivers, a lot of decision-making points that go into this level of the market that you know isn't prevalent in the in the uh more residential area.

Cabo Jim:

Absolutely. And you know, kind of along those same lines, do you see certain things, you know, I guess sensing trending and obviously changing, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, golly. Um how much time do we have? Okay. Uh obviously a lot a lot a lot of things are changing. Um unfortunately, and certainly not how any of us would have ever wanted it to happen. Um but uh you know the island we need to kind of redevelop, we need to regroup. We can't forget our past, can't forget our our our our history. Um, but we we need to look forward, you know. We need to look forward. Um that means could look forward with controlled, managed, and reasonable growth. Um, not 100-story skyscrapers on the golf front. Nobody wants to see that. Um, our focus also in our redevelopment strategy is to do things that are complementary to the community, to do things that are within the scope of zoning um with the community, um, to be an asset complement to the community. I love the island, so do the folks I'm working with. You know, they were here before Ian because they they saw an opportunity and they love the beach as well. So we're looking to do things um in a manner that's complementary to the beach, not conflicting with the uh the the vibe of the fort of Fort Myers Beach. The thing that uh I believe needs to be uh shared is that uh the comp plan, the current comp plan in the town, um was written and and and and implemented before the current building codes were written. So the current building codes require, of course, everything to be elevated, the living space, air conditioned, heated space. We can't have any improvement again. Generally speaking, there's exceptions or things here, but I'm talking just generally speaking, when we're talking concepts, design, and development. There um you can't have any living space on the ground floor, so everything needs to be elevated. However, the comp plan has not yet been adjusted to compensate for this. You know, the original comp plan didn't contemplate uh having uh a property elevated, so now we're taking away the ground level occupancy, but there's been nothing added up top to compensate for that. So now there's a squeeze here because you know, obviously you know, things need to make financial sense or nothing's going to happen. Okay, that doesn't mean somebody needs to make a gazillion dollars off of each and every deal. Of course not. It has to be reasonable, but everything needs to be done within reason to adjust and recognize the the things that need to be um uh adjusted to to uh make deals work and and get things rolling here for us. And the town to their credit has been very reasonable as well, I believe, in um in what they're permitting and what they're approving. Um overall, I think they've been very reasonable with that for our project, for example, and some other projects that we have coming.

Cabo Jim:

Yeah, and things are gonna change, you know. Unfortunately, you know, uh we're in that that period where things are gonna evolve, things are gonna change, but we do want to not lose that sense of community of what maybe Fort Myers beat is very special to a lot of people and families. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

No, absolutely. I think Dan Aller said it the best. Uh the audience is gonna stay the same, the people are gonna stay the same. The only thing that's gonna change are the buildings, you know. So uh give him credit where credit's due. That's it. Focus, focus on the positive. That's it. Yep. And and we're seeing tourism. Tourism is um, you know, the folks are still coming back, as we know. I mean, um, I'll never forget, I'll never forget this. Back now, this was during COVID. You know, we were we were shut down for a little while, and after we reopened, I was in traffic on Astera Boulevard in July. And I was sitting there, I I have uh an SUV, so I got a big you know, armrester, I have my laptop up, and I'm in traffic, I'm working, and all of a sudden it struck me, I'm in a traffic jam. I'm in a traffic jam, right? You know, right? I've never felt so good to be in a traffic jam as to when I was in that one post-COVID or during COVID here, rather. It's the same feeling now. People are coming back, we're in traffic jams, thank goodness. And let's face it, we're an island in a gulf, a beautiful island in a beautiful part of the world. Yeah, there's gonna be traffic. People are gonna kind of want to come and hang out with us, right? So, uh, yeah, we're gonna have some traffic. We just have to do the best we can with it. And just that's life here.

Cabo Jim:

Yep, and welcome them and let them enjoy the paradise that we you know, we appreciate your round. So exactly. Now I know you do a lot with the community because I see you out and about uh quite a bit. Is there anything that you're involved with currently as far as maybe giving back to the community or helping the community?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, uh, yeah, I there was a recently formed alliance called What's Up FMB. Um, and I was um asked to join the board there. And uh the mission of what's up FMB is to uh support, showcase, feature local small businesses by holding events. Um there was the first, the kickoff one was the mullet madness, um, which was just a scream. And I I I give kudos to Dawn uh Miller. Um this was Dawn's brainchild, and she's a very focused, very committed, very energetic, and and um very savvy person. She's very sharp. And uh so this was her brainchild, and we got everything for she got everything formed rather, and uh it's growing very nicely. What's up, FMB? So keep your eyes out for that. Uh there's gonna be a lot of events coming. The uh lantern festival that was just held um in November was amazing, it's just beautiful. Uh, so we're talking about you know, maybe some firework events coming up, maybe 4th of July that we're gonna be involved in. You know, keep your ears open for that. Um, all the businesses around town, you're welcome and invited, and please come and join us at WhatsApp FMB. Um, we're gonna be showcasing local businesses through events and through a lot of uh we have a great website that was just launched, as well as an amazing website. We have social media presence. So, you know, like and follow us, spread the word. It's uh it's great for the island. And we're we're you know, we're we're doing this like in concert with and in complement with the Chamber of Commerce as well. You know, we're we're working closely with with the chamber. Uh, we're we're all in this together. There's uh you know just ways that we can support everyone, and this is a manner that we uh we saw fit to do that.

Cabo Jim:

I love it. You know, just giving people uh another reason to come to the beach and and visit the beach, and there's good things happening here, and uh there's more than just the beach, there's other things going on, but uh absolutely I love it. She's done a great job with that. So kudos to her on that. So you mentioned you were here since what 2015. Where are you from originally?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, originally from a little town in Pennsylvania named Manchester, Pennsylvania. Very small town. We got our first traffic light in 1977, you know. Interesting. Wow, right a red light on the square in uh in our small town, and it was and then yeah, it it changed, it changed after that, right?

Cabo Jim:

It uh a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well that's three traffic, three traffic lights.

Cabo Jim:

Well, there you go. It's a big city now, metropolis. There we go.

SPEAKER_01:

It was a great way to grow up out in the rural countryside. You know, I was grew up in farming areas, and you know, I lived that growing up lifestyle where you know you left in the morning with your friends and went and ran around all day and spending home before the street lights came on. You know, mom and dad were were good with that.

Cabo Jim:

And they didn't know where you were all day, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. But you know, everybody knew each other. We were playing ball or running around in the woods hiking or lifting up rocks in the creek trying to catch salamanders, yeah.

Cabo Jim:

Absolutely, yeah. The good old days, right? Right, absolutely. So, speaking about that, I I know you're very very busy, man. You got a lot on your plate currently, but uh when you do get a moment of free time, what do you enjoy doing outside of work?

SPEAKER_01:

Just hanging out with my wife. Um doing things with my wife, traveling around a little bit. We we love the little getaway weekends to uh, you know, somewhere local or a quick plane ride away. We enjoy going to small, charming, quaint towns and you know, just uh relaxing there, you know, kind of like this uh uh uh Fort Myers Beach, maybe up in the mountains, you know, with a small town where people are hanging out, enjoying life together. Um, you know, we've we've got a few places that we've identified that we really enjoy. One is up in Georgia called LAJ, Georgia, and it's uh just a really cool, quaint small town up in the mountains of North Georgia. Um, places like that.

Cabo Jim:

Very good, very good. So without giving away all your secrets, uh is there something you would recommend people coming to visit uh Fort Myers Beach that they get out and do or get out and see or visit?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, just I I where to begin with that one too. How much time do you have? You know, um I love the boat tours. I like I like the boat tours, you know. So you can get out and really see the beauty of this island from the water and all the places where you know we don't get an opportunity to see, obviously, from the land as we're driving up and down a stair boulevard. Um, I think that's uh something that people really need to experience. And nothing beats. I mean, how many times have we all been in a boat and in the wake we see dolphins playing in the boat wake? Right? Does that ever get old? Does that ever get old? Never, never, of course not. So you know go take a boat ride, play with some dolphins, forget about whatever it is that might be troubling you for a little while. Um, enjoy the beauty of the water. You know, it's it's it relaxes our soul, right? And it's just an experience that you it's just hard to beat. It's hard to be. Um and then uh you know, you've got to get out and and go to some of the local spots and rub elbows with some of the local folks and just you know hang out with some people and have a great conversation with someone who you've never met before, but you walk away friends, you know, that type of experience. Um I also love the uh um oh up at Botage Point, the beach up there. Um great spot for uh sunsets um over Sanibel. You know, it's just a perfect spot for that, in my opinion. Uh kind of like a little secret spot that not everyone really goes and hangs out at, which mystifies me because I think it's awesome up there. Um so those are those are some things I would encourage folks to do. Check out, we've got some awesome restaurants in this area, too. I mean, just for foodies, it's great. Of course, you The whale that came back. Um, anything they make there is fantastic. They really have a high level of uh quality on everything they do there. Um, so it doesn't surprise me their food's just you know a home run. Uh we have Doc Fords. Doc Fords has an amazing menu, amazing foods there. Um, pardon me, Dixie Fish House. Okay. Um I can go on and on. Those are some of the those are some of the the top spots that come to mind of you know, you must go here type places. Um and just relax and enjoy life a little bit.

Cabo Jim:

That's what it's all about down here. So so getting back to business, is there one thing that you wish our listeners knew about what you're doing currently uh with the peer group that uh maybe they're not too aware of?

SPEAKER_01:

Just um, golly, good question. Um be aware of, I guess if I could share anything, and this is maybe a little delicate, but we have to find a balance on the island. We have to find a balance. As I shared with us with with you, excuse me, as I shared with you a bit earlier, um, you know, redeveloping the island is challenging. Um for a number of different reasons. As I mentioned, uh the height issues, okay. We we we hear a lot of people, and sometimes rightfully so, and sometimes, you know, this is a good argument, a good discussion, a good debate to have um about height issues. Sometimes, however, it's necessary in today's market for a new development to be a certain minimum height before it makes any financial sense to even do the project. So we can either decide to continue looking at vacant parcels and you know some rubble here and there and overgrown weeds and things like that, which has its place in some areas, um, or we can we can flex a little bit, we can adjust a little bit and just find that middle ground. Let's face it, the reality is most of the time the right answer lies in the middle. Okay, we can't have any extreme thinking on one end or the other, or nothing will ever work. We all know that. So let's just kind of work towards the middle and and where what can we do where we're all where we're all good, where we're all happy, okay, where we're where we can find agreement. If there's one message I could put out there, it's that let's just figure it out together and and let's not take the extremes on one side or the other.

Cabo Jim:

I love it, I love it. A little compromise, positive vibes, it's what it's all about. How would the listeners go about contacting you if they had questions, you know, uh wanted to buy you a drink down by the beach?

SPEAKER_01:

Sure, absolutely. Um, I my phone number is 239-940-7749. Can reach me there anytime, text me. Um anytime I can help anybody, even if it's just a question, it doesn't have to be a deal, right? Um, it's just a question I can help you with, you know. Don't hesitate. I don't know it all, but I'm happy to share with you what I do know and help you any way I can.

Cabo Jim:

Very good, very good. Dennis, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for being such a good neighbor, and we're gonna see you out of the beach here soon.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. See you, Jim. Bye, everybody.

Intro/Close:

Thanks for tuning in to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor podcast. If you loved what you heard, share it with a friend and keep the good vibes going. Until next time, remember to hobble, until you wobble, and keep being a good neighbor. Also, to nominate your favorite neighbors, local legends, heroes, or local businesses beyond the show. Go to FMBGoodneighbor.com. That's FMBGoodneighbor.com or two three nine four two seven four one zero zero. Want to send up I would love to error tips from Edward Jones, State Insurance USA, the TV Puff Fort Fires B. We are the good neighbors and businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener and promote the stories of the positive vibe of island life. Here's the celebration of the big Fort Fires beef with the place of paradise we all love.