Developers want to build a 36 hundred square foot butterfly conservatory near downtown Fort Myers. City planner Nicole De Vaughn has been helping the company, BriarPatch 2, with the paperwork. She says the final project will be a calm natural escape within the city.

“It’s gonna be kind of a passive recreational area – like a large green house, filled with plants and butterflies; the two existing houses that their renovating – one’ll serve as an office, gift shop, probably an old coffee shop in there. Kind of a neighborhood feel to the park.”

Plans for “The Butterfly Estates” went before the Fort Myers City Council Monday, and the project is approved to continue. The next step is a public hearing next month before construction begins. Developers say they hope the project will be completed next year.