North Fort Myers economic potential highlighted again
The topic wasn’t new but the message that the opportunity North Fort Myers has for an economic resurgence was far from old news to the receptive crowd at the North Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce Business Leader’s Luncheon at Heron’s Glen on Wednesday.
Rachel Busch, new Strategic Projects Manager for Lee County in the economic development office, was the speaker.
Busch, who had worked in Scottsdale, Ariz. for 10 years before coming to Southwest Florida three months ago, said she saw striking similarities with both cities.
Busch discussed the structure and the mission of the economic development office, as well as her job, which is to head the marketing strategy division.
The Commercial Corridor Revitalization Steering Committee (possibly to be made a task force), is broken into three subcommittees: North Fort Myers, Dunbar and Lehigh Acres. Busch said all three have the same goals but different action plans.
“We need to find stakeholders here and study what the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are, and how to capitalize on them,” Busch said.
The Action Plan includes identifying those key stakeholders, engaging property owners and developers and collaborating with groups such as the chamber and the civic association.
After that, it’s develop a marketing strategy to promote commercial opportunities and to collaborate with the upcoming study commissioned by the county before researching the feasibility of developing other programs and making its recommendations to the Horizon Council for the next steps.
That study has received interest from five market development firms nationwide.
“These firms have a lot of experience in understanding market conditions. They will do a full-fledged market assessment on what’s here, what should be here and what could be here,” Busch said.
The plans not only involves bringing business in, but also speaking with businesses currently here on why they came here and what challenges they face, Busch said.
She also discussed bringing in a signature event, a shop-local and dining-book program, and a Farmer’s Market, which is coming next month. She also talked about potential parking changes, as many of the centers now currently have too many spaces.
Busch said the area is primed for a comeback, and it needs the business owners to lend a hand.
“There are a lot of exciting things happening in North Fort Myers and revitalization efforts are under way. One thing we’d like to see is the business community join us for the CCRSC meetings,” Busch said. “The empty shopping centers spell opportunity for improvement. It’s a matter of time before they’re full and thriving again.”
Among those at the meeting was County Commissioner Brian Hamman, who has championed the use of the river as a business magnet. He liked what he heard at the luncheon.
“We have a lot of bright folks working on making North Fort Myers what we know it can be, a great place to live, work and raise a family,” Hamman said. “The river is an asset most communities wished they had, and we need to do what we can to maximize it.”
Chamber President Al Giacalone said he is looking forward to getting the study done, which should happen this summer.
“It will give us guidance in formulating a plan and what direction to go in. There are things that can be identified and worked on, but we still need to engage more of the community to see what we want here,” Giacalone said. “Having 120 people isn’t a true representation of the community.”