Following Fort Myers City Council’s discussion in January about the potential purchase of the Hodges University property for the site of a new City Hall, City Manager Marty Lawing said Feb. 20 he was informed the property was under contract with another buyer. 

The city will not move forward with any further assessments until it knows whether the purchase of the property by the undisclosed buyer is completed. In the case the sale falls through, council member Liston Bochette suggested the city manager provide a list of subjective and objective pros and cons to Council.  

At this point, Lawing said there isn’t another property the city would be interested in, but one option would be to stay at the Second Street location and build back into the parking lot by renovating the existing building and adding square footage in the lot.  

“There’s possibly some other sites in Midtown or others not in the downtown, so we’d have to start looking,” he said. “The main thing that was appealing with the Hodges property was the size of it, room to grow, high quality construction buildings in good condition and it’s adjacent to the Eastwood Golf Course property, which the city already owns.” 

Prior to the news of the Hodges property being under contract, Lawing said everything had been lining up well. 

After receiving the green light from the Council to pursue the purchase of the property, Lawing said a needs assessment was the first step. 

“We’ve met with all of the department directors to talk about space needs, space allocations, etc.,” he said. “With that facility being 101,000 square feet, there was more than enough space to go around.” 

The city has outgrown its current City Hall in downtown Fort Myers, making a bigger facility more attractive to house all departments under one roof and allow additional space for Council chambers, an employee health clinic and numerous other uses.  

Despite the need for a bigger building, some residents, including Diana Giraldo, oppose moving City Hall from downtown. 

“If you decentralize City Hall, it will impact individuals and businesses,” Giraldo said. 

Lawing said moving City Hall is a lot to consider, especially with the property’s hard-to-beat asking price of $26 million.  

“It’d be impossible to construct that many square feet for the price,” Lawing said. “And there’s 18 acres of land that goes with it.” 

While understanding the concerns, Lawing said moving into a facility like Hodges would improve collaboration among staff internally and make it easier for the public to access all departments in one location. 

Lawing added that while there are pros and cons to moving into Hodges, there also are two big unknowns—the impact on the central business district and what would replace the current City Hall site. 

“This is prime property,” he said. “We own the whole block from Second Street to [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard] in between Hendry [Street] and Broadway. It’s a prime development site for who knows what. Maybe more retail, more downtown stores, shops, restaurants, maybe high-end office space, maybe hotels or condos. It could be a big addition to the tax base.” 

While some of the space at Hodges is move-in ready, Lawing said about half of it would have to be modified.  

“We would need to determine what that work would look like and what that cost would look like,” he said. “We’re to that point, but we have not really spent any money by paying outside consultants.” 

Overall, Lawing thinks the pros would outweigh the cons. However, the city is now waiting to see if the property is still up for grabs.  

“We knew it would be competitive and some organization may be able to move quicker than we could,” he said. “It’s a lot of legwork and we’re just really getting started.”