Count Basie isn’t coming back, but the sound of a split vote was sweet music to the fans of McCollum Hall.
Fort Myers City Council voted 4-3 on June2 to pitch in $4.2 million to help renovate the old hall, where entertainers like Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington played on the Chittlin Circuit back in the day.
McCollum Hall was built by black entrepreneur Clifford McCollum in 1938. It was listed in the Green Book travel guide, which during segregation identified business and locales where blacks were welcome.
Locals wax eloquent when talking about what was once a touchstone for those not allowed to cross the tracks at Anderson Avenue, now re-named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The dance hall was one of the few places Black and white mixed. The old hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
City Hall was packed with Dunbar residents pushing council members to approve the funding.
“This site holds significant historic and cultural value,” said Pastor James C. Givens of the Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church.
At one point Givens spoke directly to Ward 2 Councilwoman Diana Giraldo, whose ward includes much of the Dunbar community, but not the hall.
“You owe us your vote,” the Pastor said.
He didn’t get it. Giraldo voted against the funding with councilmen Fred Burson and Liston Bochette.
Council members Teresa Watkins-Brown, Terolyn Watson and Darla Bonk and Mayor Kevin Anderson voted for it.
It wasn’t easy.
“Look at these people here today,” Watson said. “There should be no reason this shouldn’t pass today. The people are tired. We’re tired of this.”
“Our community deserves better,” she said.
Council members stumbled over how, exactly, the city would partner with a private, for-profit developer. The council finally agreed to provide the money to the city Community Redevelopment Agency and re-negotiate the contract with the envelope chosen to renovate the old hall and build apartments next-door.
Plans call for a not-quite 20,000-square-foot food hall, grocery and annex, with 26 apartments next door. The development team of Alexander Goshen and Nixon and Company Consulting was selected in 2022. They asked the city council for a $4.2 million financial boost back in January. The CRA has already contributed about $2.8 million, with another $1 million coming from the city’s Choice Neighborhoods Fund.
The food hall will focus on healthy choices, the lack of which was a recurring theme in extensive outreach efforts.
Some of those apartments — the developers had committed to 20%, will be Workforce Housing, targeting workers making 80% to 120% of the average median income. According to Fannie Mae, the average median income in the region surrounding the McCollum Hall address is $88,800.
Construction on the project was to have begun almost a year ago. Financing issues have caused extensions granted by the CRA and the city. Work to re-open McCollum Hall will precede the residential element.
The decision was met with rousing applause.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Fort Myers Council agrees to McCollum Hall funding boost
Reporting by Charlie Whitehead, Fort Myers News-Press / Fort Myers News-Press
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