N. FORT MYERS, Fla. — On Tuesday, the Lee Board of County Commissioners voted to award a contract for a comprehensive structural and architectural assessment of buildings at the Lee Civic Center.
The assessment will be done by Weston and Sampson Engineers inc. and then presented back to county commissioners with an estimate for the total cost.
Danny Ballard, President of the North Fort Myers Civic Association spoke in favor of the contract at the meeting on Tuesday.
“I'm all in favor of anything we can do, anything y’all can do to fix it up,” said Ballard.
In a press release, Lee County said The Lee Civic Center includes 163,255 square feet of floor space and was constructed to accommodate a variety of shows or events.
Among the variety of events, Lee County said the center has hosted concerts, agriculture events, fairs, trade shows, high school graduations, and other events since its opening in 1978 and sits on 98.93 acres of land that includes fairgrounds.
The group of engineers will look at 14 total buildings, including the parking lot and surrounding property.
Mike Peak, the President of the Lee County Fair Board spoke with Fox 4 about the Civic Center’s main building, and what he says should be their main focus.
“We know that the building is over 40 years old, there is some deterioration especially on the exterior, so any improvement in that area would definitely benefit the community,” said Peak.
Four decades of wear and tear–seen along the battered exterior walls, rusty siding, and holes in the ceiling.
While the county will look at other buildings such as the restrooms and barns, Peak says almost 40 events last year were held inside the main civic building.
“Our building is a unique rental for people because of its size for a lot of types of events,” he said.
“People from North Fort Myers people from all over, like this weekend you had a gun show that was probably one of the largest gun shows and you had people from all over the state come to it,” added Ballard during the commissioners meeting.
In their press release, Lee County said they own the Civic Center and the surrounding property, including the fairgrounds.
On Tuesday, Lee County added that although improvements and repairs have been made during the Civic Center's lifetime, an assessment of the facility’s condition is needed to determine the best course of action to be able to continue to host various activities.
Lee County said it will take approximately seven months to complete the assessment and the contract is for $375,765.
