When the city of Fort Myers builds a new City Hall, it’s most likely to remain downtown.
This week, City Council members indicated the current site on Second Street between Broadway and Hendry streets is the most feasible location.
City Manager Marty Lawing outlined three sites for council members during a workshop — the current site, the proposed redevelopment of the Lee Memorial Hospital site on Cleveland Avenue and the former site of The News-Press newspaper at Fowler Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Marty Lawing
The current City Hall is about 50 years old, outdated and isn’t big enough to house all the departments. A new City Hall would bring all the departments under one roof, improving efficiency, Lawing said.
It’s the least complicated, he said. “There’s a lot of flexibility to this site.”
Some possibilities include building a City Hall on top of a parking garage and adding retail space to rent out on the ground floors as is done on the Monroe/First Street garage.
The existing building could be connected to a new City Hall, or the lowest cost option would be to expand and update the existing City Hall, Lawing said.
Council member Liston Bochette said talking about the sites was premature.
“We don’t even have a needs assessment,” he said. “Let’s go get the assessment first.”
Council member Diana Giraldo questioned whether it would be good to move the location outside of downtown because that’s where county offices and some state offices are.
Moving City Hall from the city center could hurt downtown businesses. Lawing said he has seen studies done on how moving government offices to the central district impact businesses but has never seen a study on the impact if offices move out of downtown.
“I would think this is the most palatable for the business community,” Council member Fred Burson said about staying downtown.
He also thought it was the least expensive and suggested the city move ahead and explore the possibility of expanding or building a new City Hall at the site.
Mayor Kevin Anderson likes the downtown site because it faces the least challenges, but he wondered if that’s the best use of the City Hall block in the long term.
Burson suggested that when they do the needs assessment study to look at what the long-term value might be.
Lawing said the city would move forward with a needs assessment later this year.
Stan Stouder, a commercial broker, investor and consultant, said it’s impossible to figure the block’s worth without knowing what could be built there.
He did question if keeping City Hall there would be the best use of the property.
“It should be the keyhole in the door handle that is the next evolution of downtown,” he said.
He could see it as a mixed-use site with residents, a hotel and retail with outside gathering spaces connecting to Centennial Park and Caloosa Sound Convention Center.
