By Misty Nichols, executive director of the Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association
In October 2015, the Gasparilla Island Conservation
and Improvement Association (GICIA)
realized that the perfect storm was brewing; an
offer had been made by a hotel/resort developer
to purchase the Mercabo property, approximately
30 acres, 185 wet slips and 4,700 feet of seawalled
bay frontage located at the entrance to Gasparilla
Island. Just weeks before that offer was made,
Charlotte County had renewed efforts to amend
its Comprehensive Plan that could have increased
density on the Mercabo parcel from 3.5 units per
acre up to 65 units per acre.
Bayne Stevenson, GICIA president at the time,
quickly realized that the only way to protect Boca
Grande from the potential impacts of a high-rise,
high-density development on the Mercabo site
was to purchase the property and maintain that
30 acres as GICIA Land Conservancy property.
Stevenson went to the GICIA board, that unanimously
agreed to move forward in an effort
to acquire the parcel. The GICIA’s vision for the
“Preserve at Mercabo” was to acquire the property,
return it to its natural state and maintain it
that way into perpetuity.
Photos provided and from Boca Beacon archives
The purchase price of the property was set
at $20,600,000 with a 90-day cash closing. After
careful deliberation, the GICIA board of directors
voted unanimously to commit $1,000,000
of land conservancy funds toward this purchase
and move forward in the most extreme fundraising
effort ever undertaken by the organization.
Over the next 90 days, board members worked
tirelessly to secure the $20.6 million for the cash
closing set for mid-January. No one could have
predicted how supportive residents of Gasparilla
Island and the surrounding areas would be. In 12
short weeks, with approximately 1,600 donors the
GICIA was able to reach $20.6 million mark and
fi nalize the deal on January 29, 2016.
Once the purchase was complete, the GICIA
quickly moved forward with the plans to raze the
structures and ecologically restore the site. The
demolition of the nine existing buildings on the
site was completed in midsummer and with the
help of certifi ed arborist and GICIA long-time
consultant Rick Joyce the effort to aesthetically
improve the site while enhancing habitat for native
birds and wildlife began.