Your top choice for compassionateIn-Home Care in Estero, FL

The Estero Bay Estuary is bordered on the west by a chain of barrier islands, which include Estero Island, Long Key, Lovers Key, Black Island, Big Hickory Island and Little Hickory Island, from north to south respectively. Within the estuary are hundreds of islands, many with no upland area.

Mangrove trees are by far the most dominant vegetation in the bay, although extensive seagrass beds are found within the shallow bays and sounds.

The climate in the region is subtropical with the majority of rainfall from June to September. The estuary is not supplied with freshwater by any major river but rather by a number of small rivers and creeks.

Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve works closely with the Estero Bay Buddies and Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves to meet its mission. Volunteers are encouraged to help clean up marine debris; monitor seagrasses, and wading and diving bird rookeries; and monitor water quality in cooperation with the Charlotte Harbor Estuaries Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Network (CHEVWQMN).

If you are interested in volunteering at Estero Bay, please call 239-530-1001.

Counties:

Lee

Location:

2295 Victoria Ave.,

Fort Myers, FL 33901

Managed Location Contact:

Stephanie Erickson

Email:

Stephanie.Erickson@FloridaDEP.gov

Publication References:

Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve Management Plan

Total Acreage:

13800.00

Managed-Regulated:

Managed

Receives State Funding:

Yes

State Owned:

Yes

History:

The Estero Bay Estuary complex began to form about 5,000 years ago when a rise in sea level flooded the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River and the smaller rivers and creeks of the present Estero Bay area. This flooding caused sediments to be deposited at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River and the lesser streams. The sediments from the Caloosahatchee River were carried by the longshore currents south to be deposited as barrier islands bounding the present Estero Bay. The sediments deposited from the smaller rivers and streams in Estero Bay filled in the bay to cause its present shallow depth.

Estero Bay was formed into a lagoonal type estuary by the lack of significant fresh water input and a weak tidal exchange due to the restricted size of its inlets. This lagoonal formation may have been further aggravated by the present bridges and causeways in the area.

The Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, composed of the northern half of Estero Bay, was dedicated in December 1966 as the state's first aquatic preserve. During the 1983 session of the Florida Legislature, the southern half of Estero Bay down to the Lee County line was added.

Public Access:

Despite heavy development in the area, the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve is surrounded by state parks and other recreational sites offering access to the bay for boating, kayaking, fishing and more. These include Estero Bay Preserve State Park, Koreshan State Park, Lovers Key State Park, Matanzas Pass Preserve, Mound Key Archaeological State Park and the Mound House.

The Great Calusa Blueway and Estero Bay & River Paddling Trail also are nearby. Preserve staff use GIS technology to map the aquatic resources within the bay and help to organize cleanups to protect the bay and keep it beautiful.

Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve staff focus their outreach efforts on educational signs (such as those alerting users of seagrasses), participation in local events and organizing wading trips. During these wading trips, participants can meander through mudflats, explore seagrass beds, and use nets and field microscopes to uncover and study animals such as starfish and seahorses.

Aquatic preserve staff also have helped educate local law enforcement on changes in seagrass protection legislation.

The Impact of Boat Propellers on the Seagrass in Estero Bay and Prevention Efforts

Archaeological Resources:

There are several major archaeological and historic sites within the boundaries of Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve and the adjacent upland areas. In addition, most of the area has not been surveyed, and it is anticipated that additional sites will be located.

The sites include both Native American and European encampments and villages, but most are prehistoric shell (kitchen) middens such as Mound Key.

Due to sea level rise, the majority of coastal sites from the earliest occupation of the area lie drowned in the bay or farther out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Wildlife Habitat Description:

Estero Bay contains several natural community types. Although overlap between the different communities often occurs, they remain distinct community types. The dominant community type in Estero Bay is the mangrove forest, but seagrass beds, salt marshes, tidal flats, oyster bars and others are also present.

The combination of subtropical climate, the lagoon configuration, and vegetation make this estuarine complex one of the most productive in the state. Approximately 40% of the state's endangered and threatened species are found within this area. The estuary also indirectly supports a variety of commercial and sport fisheries by providing nursery area, which substantially adds to the local economy. The estuary is also an important home for bird nesting colonies and a valuable stopover area for migrating birds.

Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve staff have helped identify three rookery islands within and adjacent to Estero Bay as potential Critical Wildlife Areas. Monitoring data from aquatic preserve staff was used in the determination of these CWAs.

Listed species found in the Estero Bay aquatic preserve include:

Plants

Birds

Reptiles

Mammals

Fish

Estero Village’s staff and consultants will be busy the rest of the summer finishingplans for an entertainment centeroff Via Coconut Way and Williams Road.

The Village council gave the staff the go ahead last week at its final meeting before the summer hiatus to negotiate agreements with Chicken N Pickle, of North Kansas City, Missouri, and High 5 Entertainment, of Austin, Texas, to provide entertainment facilities on 10 acres of the 20-acre site.

The goal is to have the design completed by November and construction beginning in April 2024.

The Village paid more than $7 million for the properties, which includes the driving range fronting Williams Road. It has agreed to spend another $12 million to develop the site and build 12 to 15 outdoor pickleball courts and a miniature golf course.

Chicken N Pickle andHigh 5 each agreed to spend $15 million each to build their facilities.

Chicken N Pickle has 15 locations either open or soon to open, most of them scattered across Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado.

Chicken N Pickle would build a two-story building with about 20,000 square feet of space that includes a restaurant, six indoor pickleball courts and an outdoor social area.

Chicken N Pickle would run the outside pickleball courts built by the Village. Estero residents would get first dibs to use the courts.

The Village would receive 10 percent of the company’s first $500,000 in sales; 20 percent of sales between $500,000 and $1 million and 30 percent over $1 million.

High 5 has two locations in Texas. The Estero building would house two stories of 16 full-size bowling lanes, eight duckpin lanes, bocce, ax throwing, laser tag, an arcade and escape rooms.

The Village would receive a 15 percent distribution of High 5’s profits.

The Village expects to receive a little over $1 million annually from the two businesses.

Councilman George Zalucki visited a Chicken N Pickle and a High 5 in Texas and thought they would make a great addition to Estero.

“I was pretty much in awe,” he said about the Chicken N Pickle building. “I’ve never been to a facility like this. You look to the right is a building where the indoor pickleball occurs. To the left is where the restaurant and entertainment are.”

Council members did have some concerns. Mayor Jon McLain wondered how difficult it might be for the buildings to meet Estero’s design criteria.

“The architectural part, that is probably the thing I will be most concerned about,” he said.

He also wondered if arcade games should be the first thing you see when you walk in to High 5, he said.

“That’s not the first impression I want to see,” he said.

He wanted to know if High 5 might make changes.

Councilman Jim Ward wondered if the entertainment met the Village’s demographics.

“It’s in their best interest to appease our demographics,” said consultant Michael Camprado. “It doesn’t make sense for them to come in with a group of features that appeal to a demographic that doesn’t exist.”

McLain wanted to know if the businesses could meet the Village’s tight deadline.

“From a timing perspective they won’t be the ones holding us up,” Camprado said. “If I have a concern, we have a lot of work to do to make sure what we will want it to look like to fit in their budgets. That’s what I’m most concerned about.”

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Southwest Florida residents have lost another store to buy seasonal decorations and housewares.

Christmas Tree Shops announced it will liquidate all of its stores and go out of business, which will include its brand-new Estero location.

The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in May due to worsening finances. Unless it can find a last-minute buyer to save the day, all of its locations across the country will close down.

What are "Christmas Tree Shops"?

Despite the festive name, it's not an exclusively holiday-centric boutique. The Massachusetts-based retail chain sells a constantly changing mix of seasonal décor, housewares, furniture, and more.

The Christmas Tree Shops started in the 1950s in Cape Cod and grew to more than 70 stores across 20 states in:

Decor and houseware chain to close:Christmas Tree Shops closing all 73 stores across 20 states after worsening finances

Why is the Christmas Tree Shop in Estero closing?

The Christmas Tree Shops are liquidating its remaining stores due to worsening finances, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

According to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, last week, the company and its stakeholders have “reached an agreement this week to liquidate the remaining over 70 stores unless a buyer emerges within the next week or so,” the publication reported.

The report further elaborates that the Christmas Tree Shops took out a $45 million loan, but creditors terminated it "after the company defaulted on the terms due to worsening revenues and liquidity."

Bed Bath & Beyond, which filed for bankruptcy in March, purchased the chain in 2003 for $200 million and sold the chain to Handil Holdings, a private company, in 2020.

How long was the Estero location open?

The Estero location was not even open for more than a year before the announcement. The 35,000-square-foot store opened last year in August, replacing Bed Bath & Beyond, which closed in February 2021 at the Coconut Point Mall.

What other Florida locations are there?

In addition to Estero, the other three Florida locations:

The Pembroke Pines location closed on May 5 of this year when multiple locations across the nation also closed.

What can residents expect in the coming months?

It is not clear on which date the stores will close permanently or what sales the chain will offer over the coming months. Based on multiple store closures back in May, Christmas Tree Shops liquidation sales begin with 10% to 30% discounts with the percentages increasing closer to the final store opening date.

Contributing reporting from Francisco Guzman, USA Today-NETWORK.

Amanda Arrington, a local mom of six who got her start baking from her home kitchen, is now opening Florida’s first Chip Cookies this weekend at Estero Crossing.

“I’m a big sweets person,” Arrington said. “Once I tasted their cookies, I was hooked.”

The 1,333-square-foot shop, 10171 Estero Town Commons Place, Unit 305, will have a standard four flavors, which are the OG chocolate chip, a Biscoff chip, sugar chip and the SW chip, which is a cookie with semi-sweet chocolate wafers and topped with sea salt. In addition, there will also be a weekly rotating flavor offered.

“When you fall in love with it, we have it, it’s always there,” Arrington said of the flavors that are always offered. “For people who like to test the waters, we have the weekly rotating cookie, which will be a different cookie every week. I just like the idea of when I like something, I can go get it.”

While the flavors were enough to hook Arrington, Chip’s cookie bar is unique in comparison to other shops that have opened in the Southwest Florida market. While fresh-baked cookie shops are typically meant to satisfy cravings delivered right to customers’ doors, the cookie bar will make a trip to Chip worthwhile.

“You can go in, and essentially we’ll have the four original flavors, and then we’ll have two other flavors,” Arrington said. “You can infuse them with condensed milk or salted caramel, then you move to the next section, and you can do whipped cream on top, and then top it with a bunch of toppings. It’s a different experience. You can create something different every time, if you want to.”

The cookie bar concept was born out of Chips beginning, which started out with just chocolate chip cookies. “The way they thought about it was, if we’re just going to have one cookie on the menu, it has to be the best cookie you’ve ever had,” Arrington said.

In addition to the four standard flavors, the cookie bar will also have what Arrington describes as a boneless cookie, or a chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate chips that guests can dress up with a variety of options from fillings to toppings. There also will be a cocoa chocolate cookie offered at the cookie bar.

Infusions range from condescend milk to Nutella and warm caramel. The next step would either be a whipped cream topping or cream cheese icing before getting to the tasty toppings, including M&M’s, sprinkles, white chocolate pearls and toasted coconut.

Toppings also will change sometimes depending on the weekly rotating flavor cookie. Vanilla ice cream is offered for those who like the mix of warm, gooey cookies with cold and sweet ice cream.

A single cookie is $3.99, a pack of four is $12.99 and a 12-pack is $34.99. Chip also offers 9-count mini options with the OG and sugar chip cookies.

As Arrington’s home business began to grow, it became increasingly difficult to manage considering a personal event stopped her from making cookies for a while. It wasn’t until she walked into a gourmet cookie delivery shop that she realized a storefront was the perfect next step.

After researching many franchises, Chip was the brand she connected with the most.

“Their story was very relatable,” Arrington said. “They have a lot of kids. I have a lot of kids. It just fit.” Chip founders Sarah and Shawn Wilson created Chip out of late-night pregnancy cravings in 2016.

However, it wasn’t just the Wilsons’ story that was impactful for Arrington.

“I looked at all the pictures, and their attention to detail really caught my eye just from their logo to their boxes,” Arrington said. “I decided to reach out to them and start the whole process. I flew to Salt Lake City to try the cookies, and when I walked in the store and tasted the cookies, I knew I wanted to bring Chip to Florida.”

Chip Cookies’ grand opening is from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday. A free cookie will be offered to all guests, with a live DJ, a balloon artist and a face painter. The first 10 people in line for the grand opening will receive a gift card for a year of free cookies.

The weekly flavors will begin the following week, with cookies and cream being the first in the rotation.

Chip will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, closing at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and 7 p.m. on Sundays.

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Stock’s Luxury Apartment Living, a division of award-winning Stock Development, has announced that the pre-leasing phase has started for its newest luxury rental community in Southwest Florida, Corsa at Estero Crossing. Corsa is located on the south side of Corkscrew Road, just west of I-75.

The pre-leasing office is located at 10151 Estero Town Commons Place, Unit 204, Estero, FL, just north of where Corsa is being developed. The office will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday thru Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

“During the past few months the website for Corsa has been extremely busy,” noted Claudine Leger-Wetzel, vice president of sales and marketing for Stock Development. “There is a major pent-up demand for rental units in the Estero area. Units with not only a great location, but with a fun amenity package today’s renters demand. We’re extremely proud to bring that to them through our newest rental community — Corsa at Estero Crossing. It truly is an extraordinary place.”

Leger-Wetzel added the first residents at Corsa are currently scheduled to move into their new homes in April.

The gated Corsa at Estero Crossing features a total of 306 beautifully designed luxury apartments in six three-story buildings with elevators. One, two and three-bedroom apartments are available offering a variety of views.

Inside the apartment homes, residents will enjoy expansive 9-foot, 4-inch ceilings, contemporary wood-style floors, spacious walk-in closets, including custom closets in select units, balconies and patios, high-speed fiber internet, over fiber-optic technology, high-end ceiling fans, smart home technology and USB charging ports.

The kitchens will include energy efficient, stainless-steel appliances with flattop ranges, side-by-side refrigerators, oversized islands with hardwood modern cabinetry, high-end plumbing fixtures, walk-in showers, quartz countertops and under-mount sinks.

Corsa’s spectacular, two-story, 21,364-square-foot clubhouse will be the centerpiece of the community. The amenities will include a resort-style pool with sun shelf, an expansive sun deck, private cabanas, grill stations and a large, covered veranda with table games for social gatherings, as well as an indoor-outdoor bar area.

Inside the clubhouse, residents will enjoy all the amenities expected in a Stock Luxury Apartment Living community, and more. Those amenities include a sports lounge, golf simulator and theater, individual workspaces, a convenient mini-market and vending center and even two full-size bowling lanes.

Heading up to the second floor of the clubhouse, residents will be delighted by the carefully designed fitness area with its fully equipped main fitness center, an aerobics room and a weight training area.

The pet-friendly community will also feature an indoor pet spa, a dog park with agility equipment, as well as a car care center for the residents’ convenience.

Additional onsite amenities will include a greenspace with walking path and pocket park, a package management center with refrigerated food package storage, electric car charging stations and a satellite barbeque pavilion overlooking a lake.

In addition to the community’s great amenities, residents of Corsa won’t have to travel far to reach excellent eateries, high-end salon services, or even a spine adjustment. That’s because on the north side of the rental community is Estero Crossing, which has approximately 50,000 square feet of retail space.

The majority of the businesses in the center are open, including a number of popular restaurants.

“They include Crisp and Green, a health food restaurant which features chef-crafted salads, grain bowls and smoothies and a Chicken Salad Chick, which features a wide variety of chicken salad sandwiches plus sides, soups and sweet treats,” said Keith Gelder, president of Stock’s Luxury Apartment Living division. “There’s also a Bubbakoos Burritos, which is known for its fresh, made-to-order burritos, marketed as affordable for kids, families and seniors, and finally a Chip Cookies, a gourmet cookie company. ” The other businesses open in Estero Crossing includes Sherwin Williams, Affordable Dentures and Implants, The Joint Chiropractic, Restore Hyper Wellness and Orange Theory Fitness.

Businesses opening in the future include Dunkin, which is set to open this month, Estero Eye and Oak & Stone restaurant, both set to open in December, and Scoop a Smile, set to open next summer.

Corsa at Estero Crossing is one of the projects Stock Luxury Apartment Living is currently developing along the Florida Gulf Coast/I-75 corridor. The others include Arya in St. Petersburg and Seven Oaks at Wesley Chapel near Tampa.

Completed projects include Allura in North Naples, Spectra in Fort Myers, Inspira in Lely Resort and Citria at Fruitville Commons in Sarasota.

Stock Luxury Apartment Living is part of the Stock Development family of companies. The award-winning premier developer and builder, based in Southwest Florida, lives by their motto “when quality matters” and has demonstrated a commitment to the local communities they serve for more than 20 years.

For more information regarding the community and its amenities, visit CorsaEstero.com or call 239-842-7970. ¦