At the tip of Captiva Island is South Seas, there's a smattering of single-family homes mixed in with hundreds of timeshares and villas. All told there are 669 units that make up the non-resort portion of South Seas.
For more than 75 years people have come to the resort and surrounding properties to escape the cold and hustle and bustle up North. There's two-and-a-half miles of white sandy beaches and lush, environmentally sensitive land.
It is here that many learn to sail, to snorkel or paddleboard, essentially soak up the beauty and Old Florida charm that is becoming scarce in the state.
The resort itself has just 107 rooms, but that is likely to change now that the Lee County Government has removed the guardrails on this ecologically sensitive barrier island.
“Our worst fears are realized where they're asking for hundreds of new hotel rooms, new units, new density, new heights, all on a sensitive barrier island,” said Matt DePaolis.
DePaolis is the environmental policy director for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. He and every other environment and civic organization on the barrier islands are opposed to the government releasing South Seas from the strict density and height restrictions.
The resort recently filed a rezoning application. And while the county has yet to make it public, information provided by South Seas paints a picture of a much bigger resort. For starters, the 107 rooms in the old hotel will give way to perhaps 272 condominiums. In some cases, those condominiums could rise more than 60 feet off the ground.
The resort is also asking to quadruple the number of hotel rooms. Back when South Seas was bound by density restrictions, there could be no more than three units per acre; A single hotel room equals one unit.
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The roofs of the convention center and where Doc Fords was. This is proposed to be torn down and a hotel built. Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, shown above are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Ken Suarez owns condos on the South Seas property. Several taller buildings and a water park has been proposed to be built on the land around his building. “All the buildings now are not higher than the trees,” Suarez said. “If what was proposed is built, the buildings will be higher than the trees.” Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Ken Suarez owns condos on the South Seas property. Several taller buildings and a water park has been proposed to be built on the land around his building. “All the buildings now are not higher than the trees,” Suarez said. “If what was proposed is built, the buildings will be higher than the trees.” Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Land that once held tennis courts is proposed to become a water park. Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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The roofs of the convention center and where Doc Fords was. This is proposed to be torn down and a hotel built. Demolition has begun on the South Seas Island Resort Hotel on Captiva Island. The new owners presented plans for much higher buildings with more rooms to be built on the land. Local residents, like Ken Suarez, are prepared to fight.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
“We knew that when the guardrails came off immediately following that would be an application like this,” DePaolis said.
DePaolis is not alone with his fears for what this could mean for the barrier islands. Ken Suarez is a business owner at South Seas. He owns two private properties there and is the chair of the President's Council, which oversees the 12 homeowners’ associations within South Seas.
Suarez said none of the private owners of places within South Seas are against the resort building back after the damage caused by Hurricane Ian last year. It's just to the extent to which it wants to build back that has them concerned.
“We support them in rebuilding the resort — okay — we do," Suarez said. "We are just having a very very difficult time with this density and intensity of use increase that we, I personally think, as a fourth-generation Floridian, is going to ruin that island and it's going to affect Sanibel and it's going to be a problem.”
He predicts the expansion of such magnitude could add another 3,000 or so people, including employees, to an already packed part of the island.
“Same acreage. Same non- conforming roads, you know tight spaces lack of parking,” Suarez said.
In a statement, the resort said it anticipates spending upwards of several billion dollars with the goal of preserving and celebrating the history of South Seas while adding amenities such as luxury residential units and improving the overall aesthetics.
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