The Southwest Florida Community Foundation’s future is taking shape in the historic neighborhood of downtown Fort Myers with the renovation of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad depot and the creation of a Regional Collaboratory & Tech Hub where ideas for social, economic and sustainable change will be born and fostered. Work on the site began February 2017, exactly 93 years after the original presentation of the train station to the city.
The renovated train station and a 15,000-square- foot addition designed and built to earn LEED Gold certification will be home to the foundation’s new regional offices and the Collaboratory, offering meeting and tenant spaces, social gathering and special events venues, and shared working and collaborations space all powered by state-of-the-art Florida Lambda-Rail broadband internet.
The Foundation has also signed a long-term lease with the city of Fort Myers for the Jackson Street depot. This is a true public-private partnership in which the city is not funding the entire infrastructure. It’s a perfect example of impact investing by getting everyone at the table.
Long-time community benefactors David and Linda Lucas successfully challenged the community to match their generous $2.5 million Collaboratory endowment, resulting in $5 million, not for infrastructure, furniture or office supplies, but for the transformational collaboration, community convening and philanthropic work that will take place on the 3-acre campus.
“We believe people coming together is one of the most powerful ways to strengthen our region,” said Dr. Larry Hobbs, chairman of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation board of trustees, in announcing the endowment and matching gifts from 83 individuals.
A successful eight-week push to match a $2.5 million endowment donation has erased worries of a struggle ahead in funding programs and collaborations for a regional technology hub in Fort Myers.
The Board of Trustees of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation and the City of Fort Myers City Council and staff will host a Construction Kickoff Community Celebration of the Foundation’s new Collaboratory on Thursday, April 27, 8 to 10 a.m.at 2031 Jackson Street and Bennett Hart Park in Downtown Fort Myers. The event is free and open to the public. A brief program will begin at 8:30 a.m. featuring comments from the leadership of the Foundation, the City of Fort Myers, and a representative of the Florida Community Loan Fund.
Behind the big ticket move to transform the midtown section of Fort Myers.