Brightwater Lagoon job fair spurs anticipation
A recent hiring event has area residents anticipating the opening of Brightwater Lagoon in North Fort Myers — an amenity that will be available for those who live in the community and the general public alike.
While an opening date is still pending, the hiring event held in August was an important part of the pre-opening prep, with more than 50 positions available in food and beverage, admissions staff, lifeguards, and grounds teams and more, officials said.
The focus was on finding bartenders.
“We have our own food trucks and multiple areas where people can get food and nonalcoholic and alcoholic drinks,” said Brightwater Lagoon General Manger Jimmy Cruz, adding that they need bartenders, barbacks and servers. “A lot of folks who were interviewing were really excited because they saw the property.”
The job fair went pretty well, as they were able to talk to about 60 people between the two days, Cruz said.
“Bartenders was the one I wanted to focus on. We had a really great turnout with bartenders,” he said.
The lagoon itself is six acres and will be an amenity for the residents who live in the Brightwater community, a master planned community in North Fort Myers off Pritchett Parkway, which is off Bayshore Road between I-75 and Nalle Grade Road.
“Instead of having a golf course, a big club house, it is a six-acre lagoon with sandy beaches, water activities, and a resort-style swim up bar,” he said. “First and foremost, it is an amenity for the community, but we can also bring in guests that can come in for the day and join in on the fun as well.” Cruz said there is a lot of excitement from them, as well as the residents of the Brightwater community who are anxious to start using the facility.
“They moved here because of it,” he said, adding that there are about 300 homes with more to be built. “The strategy is to give them their sneak peak, use of the facility before the general public has a chance to. We are looking at the best way to do that.”
Brightwater Lagoon is great for families — those who live in the community as well as those live in the area and want to check it out, he said.
The lagoon will offer sandy beaches, kayaks, paddle boards, inflatable obstacle course in the middle of the lagoon, a water slide, resort-style swim up bar, food trucks, and various shade options.
“The water obstacle course is for those that want to get in there and climb and be able to enjoy a big playground on the water. It’s all an inflatable obstacle course that pieces together,” Cruz said. “It’s a fun opportunity to do something like that in the middle of the lagoon.”
Brightwater Lagoon also will offer a VIP area –Cabana Cove — to elevate individuals’ experience with such options as renting a cabana, shaded seat areas and a more secluded dedicated swim area and a bar.
“This facility is going to be great for the residents and general public,” Cruz said. “The residents are going to have a really great opportunity to use this facility. We are going to have a lot of activities and events — trivia nights, fitness classes, cigar nights — build that community for them that gives them the opportunity to really enjoy living at Brightwater.”
With the opening day of the lagoon still a moving target — it will slide into the wintertime period — initial attendance from non-residents is still unknown.
“The jury is still out because this part of the state gets a pretty good boost for snowbird activity,” Cruz said, adding that they are not sure if it will be a true down season. “We still have a good amount of folks to hire. It’s really critical to hire and onboard them at the right time. We don’t to hire before we are ready for it.”
They are still kind of in the final stages in getting construction done, and processes with the county is not completed yet.
“We are not any closer to coming up with a date,” Cruz said of opening. “These projects are very complex and many moving parts, whether it is construction items, we have to make sure all of our equipment is online and ready to go. We want to make sure we have the green lights from county officials. One big puzzle before all the pieces fit. We are getting ready and getting closer.”
Hurricane Ian has been among the reasons for the opening delay.
The North Fort Myers property is Metro Lagoons’ fourth location with three others in the Tampa area.
Other locations include Southshore Bay Lagoon in Wimauma, Miranda Lagoon in San Antonio, and Epperson Lagoon in Wesley Chapel.
“This is the first lagoon outside of the Tampa Bay area,” Cruz said. “We are excited to bring the lagoon life down here to this community.”
Cruz, who has a background in theme parks, worked for many years in the Tampa and Orlando area for such parks as Universal Studios, Bush Gardens and Sea World.
“I had some mutual colleagues considering working for Metro and it got me energized to join the team,” he said, which brought him back to Florida from Oklahoma. “It’s a great opportunity to live in a different part of Florida and experience Southwest Florida.
He said they will make sure they have plenty of room for residents before setting the rest of the attendance they feel they can bring in.
“Everything is sold online,” Cruz said. “We hope to open this year as soon as we get the green light from those helping us with the approval process and finishing out the construction. We are excited to bring on some more people as we get closer to that date.”
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