Casting beach characters

Tom Torgerson has big plans for Fort Myers Beach.

But first he'll have to persuade the independently minded residents of the laid-back beach town that he should build a complex of four beachfront resorts totaling 562 hotel rooms and a 1,500-car parking garage at the base of the Fort Myers Beach bridge.

Torgerson, CEO and chairman of Minnesota-based TPI Hospitality, hinted at the challenges that lie ahead. “There's a huge cast of characters who live on that beach,” he says, describing the difficulty of assembling the land for the project called Grand Resorts Fort Myers Beach.