McCollum Hall stands at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where it once hosted jazz legends on the Chitlin’ Circuit.
Evan Williams
Consultants are finishing conceptual plans for historic McCollum Hall that will be unveiled May 27, but the meeting agenda offers clues about what they will include.
Parker Mudgett Smith Architects will present the plans at the Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency meeting at 9 a.m. The CRA board, made up of the mayor and City Council members, will vote on the plan, according to the agenda.
“It’s all conceptual right now,” said Shani Stinson, a spokesperson for the CRA.
The consultants were still working on the plan, and it was not available May 21, she said.
Mayor Kevin Anderson said in a text May 22 that he had not seen the plans.
The agenda lists four items related to McCollum Hall.
One item asks the board to vote to advertise for a restaurateur to manage and operate a restaurant in McCollum Hall. Another asks the board to vote to advertise for a performing arts company to operate a performing arts center.
The board also will vote to hold a public hearing July 22 to buy the property west of McCollum Hall on Cranford Avenue for $130,000. The final agenda item is to authorize the creation of bylaws and documents for the McCollum Hall Foundation as a nonprofit organization.
The foundation will “provide long-term stewardship, fundraising, programming support, preservation advocacy and strategic oversight for McCollum,” a CRA staff report said.
CRA staff said in reports that a restaurant and a performing arts center were among the most popular requests from residents.
Residents share ideas Sept. 30, 2025, during a public workshop in Dunbar on the restoration of McCollum Hall. Community input will help guide redevelopment of the 1938 landmark.
Evan Williams
Gulfshore Business reported in February that residents attending meetings and completing a CRA survey favored a restaurant, live music and cultural activities.
Restoring the building has not been easy. McCollum Hall, at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Cranford Avenue, was built in 1938 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Black musical acts performed on the second floor, often attracting Black and white audiences who were separated by ropes.
The CRA took over the property in 2008 and has spent $2.8 million on the building over the past 15 years, CRA Director Michele Hylton-Terry said. A state grant paid for exterior restoration in 2016, but several attempts to restore the interior have failed.
Most recently, the city cut ties with G C McCollum LLC. The developer had proposed turning the ground floor into a commercial food hall. The project was estimated to cost more than $10 million, and the developer requested $4.2 million from the city.
The city instead gave the CRA responsibility for developing a plan for the hall.