FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Jim Lavender, Lee County Public Works
                (941) 479-8301

FORT MYERS, Fla. (January 8, 2002) – The Board of Lee County Commissioners today unanimously approved the demolition of three older county buildings on Hendry Street in downtown Fort Myers to make way for a 45,000-square-foot Development Services Inspector/Licensing Building that will be shared with the City of Fort Myers.

The buildings are across from Fort Myers City Hall between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Second Street. Two are vacant – the county’s old print shop and former Community Development Building – and the other currently houses code enforcement officers, building inspectors and contractor licensing. All of the buildings are in severe disrepair.

Demolition should begin later this month and construction could start as early as mid-March. The facility will take about a year to complete. The design will be three floors with red brick, green awnings and columns – similar to the county’s Community Development/Public Works building on Monroe Street.

Each floor will be 15,000 square feet. The City of Fort Myers’ Building Department will locate on the first floor. The county’s code enforcement, building inspections and contractor licensing will be on the second floor. And the third floor will be reserved for future expansion.

The cost of the demolition is $115,000. The building and associated parking lot will be a little more than $5 million. The money has been budgeted in the county’s construction budget, and the city will pay one-third of the cost – likely through a lease arrangement. Part of the funding also will come from county permitting fees. The construction manager for the project is Bundschu Kraft Inc.

The building not only will redevelop a major block in downtown Fort Myers, it also will add another key piece to the county’s and city’s downtown government campus.