FORT MYERS, Fla.- Downtown Fort Myers' newest venue has opened. The river basin is one of the city's most anticipated projects.

This is the first of many steps the city is taking to re-vamp downtown. It's part of an effort to make downtown a must-visit destination in Southwest Florida,

For the past nine months, crews worked tirelessly to reconstruct the riverfront. In the time-lapsed video, you can see how they brought the Caloosahatchee River right up to Bay Street. The project cost more than $5 million, but city leaders say it will be a huge economic engine for downtown.     

Now, they are hoping to lure a hotel, restaurants and more businesses to the area. Already, a Sarasota developer has expressed interest in building a hotel with more than 200 rooms, at a cost of about $30 million to $35 million. He's supposed to visit the river basin sometime next month.