The restoration of McCollum Hall will have to wait.
Fort Myers City Council on April 21 voted 5-2 against giving $4.2 million to developers to start the project.
All the council members said they are in favor of helping the restoration, but the majority sought to see a breakdown of how the money will be spent and others wanted to wait to see how next year’s budget will look. Budget workshops will take place over the summer.
McCollum Hall, at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Cranford Avenue, was built in 1938 and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Black musical acts played on the second floor of the building, often attracting Black and white audiences who were separated by ropes.
Restoring the building hasn’t been easy. Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency took over the property in 2008 and spent $2.8 million on the building in the past 15 years, CRA Director Michele Hylton-Terry said at a January workshop. A state grant paid for the outside restoration in 2016, but several attempts to restore the inside have failed.
Alexander Goshen + Cornerstone Strategic Partners LLC is the latest developer who wants to give it a try.
The developer’s plans are to do the project in two phases. The first phase would take the 14,200-square-foot downstairs for a market hall and grocery store, with the second phase adding 26 multifamily residences.
The consensus among the five council members who voted against providing the money was where it would come from and how it would be spent.
“You can’t just give us a lump sum, you have to tell us how it’s being spent,” Council member Fred Burson said. “I don’t know if that money is being spent on management and administrative fees. If city residents are going to spend the money, I want it to be hard costs. I want it to be on moving dirt, building walls.”
Council member Teresa Watkins Brown made the motion for the city to financially support the project for $4.2 million but when there was little support, she offered to remove the amount and just say the city would financially support McCollum Hall restoration.
That didn’t change council members’ minds. Council member Darla Bonk said not having an amount was like giving the developers a blank check.
Council member Terolyn Watson sided with Watkins Brown and asked if Council could still approve it and then find the money.
“This project is so old, it’s pathetic,” she said. “Just seeing this project approved gives people in Dunbar some hope.”
Mayor Kevin Anderson questioned giving the $4.2 million so close to budget season.
“I do have a problem approving $4.2 million just weeks before we’re going to do our first budget workshop to understand what dollars we have,” he said.
Deputy City Attorney Ronald Dente Jr. brought up the legal question of whether the city can give financial support to a project being done by a private developer. The city might have to prove there is a public purpose to give any money.