Plans are underway for the development of a full service nature and ecological resort in the heart of the Florida everglades, US.

The US$23m (£14.7m, €16.7m) Florida Everglades Resort (FER) is the result of a collaboration between EcoExperience Development (EDI) of Jupiter, Fla., and a development team which includes CPZ Architects, Sustainaissance International and Steckroth Hospitality Group. Situated on a 15-acre former citrus grove site inside the 72,000-acre Seminole Reservation near Big Cypress, Fla., the resort will be adjacent to Billie Swamp Safari, a 2,200 acre nature and wildlife park currently attracting more than 135,000 visitors a year.

EDI, which will serve as the general partner of Florida Everglades Resort, LLC, has entered into a 50-year lease with the Seminole tribe of Florida to develop the project. The agreement also gives the company the right to develop and use additional areas outside the area covered by the lease for further development and infrastructure. The resort will be operated by Calibre Management. Scheduled to open in 2012, FER will be built in phases. Phase I provides for the construction of 124 guest rooms and suites in a main resort building, along with a number of full-services villas arranged in a village format. Phase II will see the creation of further villas and their associated services.

Facilities will include a full-service restaurant and lounge, snack outlets, shops and a conference centre, plus a range of educational and recreational programmes. Amongst the latter are sustainability, scenic tours, ecology within the Everglades, kayaking, biking, hiking, wildlife viewing and survival training. Meeting and teaching areas, called EcoExperience Exploration Stations, will be scattered throughout the property. Some will require wired electricity and water for specific activities but most will take advantage of solar powered lighting and similarly environmentally aware technology. They will serve as covered picnic areas when not being actively used in programming.

Also available will be an outdoor water activity centre featuring a lagoon-type pool with slides and a waterfall, together with a poolside snack and beverage offer. A proposed wellness centre will provide indoor and outdoor treatment and relaxation rooms, a meditation room, a sauna and a state of the art fitness facility, with a focus on natural, native and personalised spa products and services.

The project will be built to sustainable and ecological building and operational standards, including the LEED, Green Globe, EU Eco-Label and ISO 14001 certifications. Target visitors are said to be mid- to up-scale adventurous, leisure and outdoor travellers, with an emphasis on nature-based tourism. EDI plans to develop several such resorts elsewhere in the US, each one owned and capitalised by a separate partnership.

Pic: Big Cypress