Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Downtown Economy And Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fifth Avenue South BID reports strong visitation and marketing gains; security and storm costs rise
Summary
The Fifth Avenue South Business Improvement District presented its 2024 annual report to the City Council, highlighting 4.1 million visits, strong email engagement and marketing results, and growth in sponsorships. Directors warned of sharp increases in event security costs and ongoing downtown flooding concerns.
Meg Stepanian, executive director of the Fifth Avenue South Business Improvement District (BID), presented the BID—s 2024 annual report at the June 14 workshop.
The BID reported 4.1 million visits to Fifth Avenue South in 2024, generated by about 1.8 million unique visitors who averaged 2.27 visits each. Website sessions rose 12.3% year-over-year, and the BID—s email engagement was notably strong: an open rate of 59% and a click rate of 7.1% — both well above industry averages, Stepanian said.
The BID cited marketing gains achieved on a modest budget: about $7,000–$8,000 in digital display ads delivered roughly 150,000 impressions per quarter and contributed to measurable traffic to the BID—s site.
Stepanian said the district added 22 new businesses in 2024, numerous special events and sponsorships (including evenings on Fifth, Cars on Fifth and the Christmas Walk), and a new sponsorship-driven program called "Flavors of Fifth" which raised nearly $12,000 for Beverly—s Angels. She described an increase in media coverage work with the Naples, Marco Island & Everglades Convention & Visitors Bureau and new outreach to Breeze Airlines and Canadian travel publishers.
Council members asked about infrastructure and operations. BID officials confirmed ongoing discussion and outreach on stormwater and flood protection at problem locations along the 800 block and Ninth Street. Stepanian said property owners were addressing flood protections where they could; city staff noted larger stormwater fixes were in engineering workstreams.
Security costs were a repeated theme: the BID said event-related security spending rose sharply — by hundreds of percent between 2022 and 2024 for major events — and has driven requests for more reliable, long-term safety infrastructure such as removable or permanent bollards and other crowd-protection measures. Council members and BID representatives discussed options including collaborative purchase or storage of security barriers among the city, CRA and BID.
Why it matters: Fifth Avenue South is a central commercial and tourism corridor for Naples; the BID—s metrics show engagement growth but also highlight rising event and storm-related costs that affect both merchants and the city—s service needs.
