Charlotte County Commissioners on March 26 voted to appropriate $750,000 in the fiscal year 2024 budget to jump-start the rebuilding of the Cultural Center. Funding for the capital improvement project called Cultural Center Replacement will be supplied from the capital project fund’s ad valorem revenue. 

The initial $750,000 is for the design and planning stage. 

Two weeks ago, Charlotte County Commissioners unanimously voted to accept their consultant team and staff’s recommendation for the Cultural Center to be demolished and replaced with a new facility on the 8.03-acre Aaron Street site in Port Charlotte. 

The new facility’s total cost has yet to be determined but was estimated at about $46 million and is budgeted for fiscal year 2028. 

During a March 26 meeting, when commissioners were about to approve the consent agenda, including Cultural Center funding, Commissioner Chris Constance pulled the item labeled as “J2” for discussion. 

“I didn’t want it to be buried in the consent agenda,” Constance said. “I wanted to make sure that the public understood that we are making a first step.” 

He warned that “it’s going to be a very long process but moving three-quarters of a million dollars is really attacking the plan.” 

Afterward, commissioners unanimously voted to approve the funding. 

Initially, the fate of the Cultural Center was unknown after it sustained flooding and wind damage from Hurricane Ian. It closed the previous year after the nonprofit running it was unable to sustain the popular venue that saw scant participation and the absence of live acts and theater due to the pandemic. 

Without revenue to run the Cultural Center, the nonprofit asked the county to take over, but the county did not step forward at that time. 

However, many Charlotte County residents contacted commissioners and county officials and asked them to reopen the Cultural Center they depended on for their socialization, adult education classes, veterans services, information, lunches at the cafeteria, card games, dances, live theater and musical acts, a gift shop, special meal gatherings and more. 

The only part of the Cultural Center that continued to operate was the Port Charlotte Library on the premises, as it was run by the county and did not sustain the damages the rest of the campus did. 

Eventually, the library will be demolished once Mid-County Regional Library on Forrest Nelson Boulevard in Port Charlotte is repaired and renovated, and then a new Port Charlotte Library on the Cultural Center Campus will be built. 

As more and more residents began to petition the county to reopen the center, it soon became apparent how important it was to many. Commissioners vowed to take it over and rebuild it. 

Constance on March 26 said commissioners “have told administration that we want to move forward. We want to see plans. We want to see what can be done on the piece of property.” 

This follows a survey posted on the county website asking the public what it wants at the new Cultural Center. 

At an earlier meeting Commissioner Ken Doherty said he would like it to be multigenerational. 

There also were meetings held throughout the county with residents providing feedback. 

Constance said he’s had “some good conversations with the public.” He asked County Administrator Hector Flores if he could locate items from the old historical center on Bayshore Road, which was decommissioned, saying they could be cornerstones for the new Cultural Center.