Downtown Fort Myers doesn't make any sense to me. It's the first place I had seen in Florida that called itself a "downtown" since moving here, and I was seriously disappointed. To be fair to the area, it's much nicer now than it was four years ago when I moved here, but it doesn't compare at all. Downtown to me means Manhattan and Boston and even Hartford and Providence. I'm used to living close to "real" cities with skyscrapers and buildings made entirely of steel and glass, so I find Downtown Fort Myers to be pokey and boring and sad. I'm much more used to it, having been in Florida, so my expectations aren't as high as they were, but I'm still not very impressed.
I guess that areas like Downtown Fort Myers are experiencing a renaissance, but only because they cater to retirees and snowbirds. The architecture is based on the "old Florida" Mediterranean influenced styles that people like to model their new houses on, that imply being upper class and expensive, and classy. I guess it's a way to encourage people to stop and walk around, and to do real world window shopping. Unfortunately, the way that young people spend money is usually online, so their target audience is slowly disappearing. I don't think that their current model is sustainable for the future.
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