Plans to move the Naples Visitor Information Center into an old baggage car at the historic Naples Depot have been derailed.

The project has reached the end of the line due to higher than expected renovation costs, said Jack Wert, Collier County’s tourism director. 

“The construction bids came in way higher than we had budgeted for and it just did not seem to be feasible to invest any more dollars in that project,” he said.

In June 2016 Collier County commissioners approved an agreement between the county and Southwest Heritage Inc., owners of the Naples Depot, to remodel the railroad car so it could house the visitor center.

The county first budgeted $200,000 for the project, then raised it to $300,000, but the bids “came in double to that,” Wert said.

“Inflation has just increased those construction costs on everything,” he said. “Not just on this kind of thing.”

In case you missed it:  Naples Visitor Center to move into railroad car at Naples Depot

The railroad car sits idle at the railroad museum in downtown Naples and hasn’t been used for anything in years.

The money to fix up the car would have come from a promotional fund supported by the county’s tourist tax.

The county charges a 5 percent tax on overnight stays at hotels and other vacation rentals, which pays for tourism marketing and beach projects, supports local museums and events and funds an amateur sports complex. 

The Tourist Development Council, which advises the county on tourism issues, unanimously recommended in favor of renovating the railroad car for use as a visitor center. Wert shared the bad news about the project with the council at its meeting last week.

Council members were clearly disappointed. Council Member Michelle McLeod suggested the county explore other options in the downtown area, such as the Norris Community Center.

Location downtown too costly

While a location near Fifth Avenue South is ideal, Wert said alternative sites in that area are too costly because the rents run so high anywhere close to U.S. 41.

The visitor center is tucked away inside the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce’s second floor offices  — at 2390 U.S. 41 N. The center relocated there from Fifth Avenue South in 2015, primarily due to the high cost of its more high profile spot.

The chamber planned to sublease the baggage car from the county, which leases it from Southwest Heritage, a nonprofit group that acquired the property to ensure its survival in the 1970s.

Realizing the costs involved for the county, the chamber’s leadership agreed it didn’t make sense to move forward with the project, Wert said.

“Their visitation to the center in their offices in the chamber building have gone up quite a bit,” he said. “Some of that was just some changes that we made with Google maps to specifically pinpoint that location as the visitor center. That seemed to have increased their visibility and their visitation.”

The chamber helps fund the visitor center through its membership and runs it with the help of one of its employees and volunteers. The space is provided to the county at no cost. 

“We would have loved to be in that rail car, but we also understand the economics. It has to make sense financially to the taxpayers,” said Michael Dalby, the chamber’s president and CEO.

The plan now, he said, is to make the current visitor center even better since the location is no longer considered temporary.

“We continue to see individuals coming to the visitor center and seeking information,” Dalby said. “Obviously, it picks up during the season, and we’ve seen as many as 50 to 100 people in a week’s time come through.”

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