The initial idea never was to build a $20 million food park at the foot of the Cape Coral Bridge.
The three partners who owned the 3.2 acres and the building that was at one time a model home site, even had a buyer and the property under contract.
The buyer, who had planned to build a food truck park on the property, pulled out of the deal, said Jeff Miloff, one of the property owners.
Instead, the owners liked the idea so much they added two more partners and decided to keep the land, pay the former buyers for the concept and build a food truck park.
“What we did was took the concept of the food truck park and elevated it,” said partner Gary Aubuchon.
The partners held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the park, Slipaway Food Truck Park and Marina, Thursday morning. The other owners are Sandra Dean, Scott Fischer, John Kulhayi and Chuck McGuirk.
Slipaway will be the first food truck park in Cape Coral.
The plan on steroids calls for 10 food trucks, an open-bar pavilion that will seat 154 people and six more pavilions that will seat an additional 150.
The park will take advantage of the property’s water access, adding 30 boat slips and 1,370 feet of boardwalk along the water.
“Every iteration of the design kept getting nicer and nicer and nicer,” Aubuchon said. “We didn’t just want to build a food truck location, we wanted to build an experience.”
The partners began working on the project in 2019, then the pandemic hit, Miloff said.
They looked at food truck parks online and in person.
Aubuchon said the Cape park will avoid the pitfalls of Southwest Florida’s first food truck park, Celebration Park in East Naples, which is small and has a problem with parking.
“It’s ironic that we’re going to have something in Cape Coral that is much nicer than something in Naples,” Aubuchon said.
Slipaway just started accepting applications for food trucks. It received two applications the first day, Myloff said.
“Our pledge to you is we’re going to pick the best ten trucks in Southwest Florida that provide the best food and the best service available,” Aubuchon said.
By bringing a food truck park to Cape Coral, it is is a project that breaks barriers, said Mayor John Gunter. He likes the project because it takes advantage of using the waterfront, something he said is underutilized in the Cape.
Acting City Manager Michael Ilczyszn called it “the right project, at the right place, at the right time with the right look.”
The time is now for food truck parks in Southwest Florida.
Celebration Park has eight food trucks.
Backyard Social is scheduled to open later this summer with eight trucks on the northwest corner of Treeline Avenue and Alico Road near Gulfcoast Town Center.
Rooftop at Riverside on Old 41 in downtown Bonita Springs also will open this year. It will have a two-story bar and room for eight trucks.
Fort Myers gave the OK for Bruno’s Brooklyn Bites Food Truck Park earlier this year, but the approval is being appealed.
The approved location is on McGregor Boulevard near downtown. Plans call for seven trucks, two owned by the Brunos.
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