Nonprofit proffers new vision for Lee County Civic Center
Proposes 18,000-seat amphitheater
A local nonprofit wants to transform the Lee County Civic Center into a destination with profits going back into the community to other organizations — an option it hopes will be among those discussed by the Lee County Board of Commissioners in December.
The Charity Pros, which was established a few years ago, would like to improve the county-owned facility off Bayshore Road by including an 18,000-seat amphitheater on the grounds where the Southwest Florida Lee County Fair has long been held.
With the 100-acre Lee County Civic Center complex being underutilized and not available, Brad Maloney, vice president of operations/events for The Charity Pros, said they want to make it more accessible with an outdoor amphitheater with 8,000 seats underroof and 10,000 lawn seats.
The nonprofit has dubbed this as their Legacy Project — the give-back project.
“What we do as a nonprofit is we help other charities raise money,” Maloney said.
The plan would be to donate proceeds back to local charities, including 4-H from proceeds of the amphitheater.
“We love the 4-H and want to continue to support them — build bigger and better. We want to be a financial partner, the prime charity partner out there,” Maloney said. “We want to help keep the fair every year and have the outside vendor come in and work with the fair board. We want to make the fair bigger and better — tie entertainment in with the fair.”
The bottom line, The Charity Pros wants to expand what is at the Lee County Civic Center grounds.
“We want to redevelop the acres and utilize all of it,” he said, adding the music and amphitheater would only take up 30 to 40% of the site.
Other visions include adding a rodeo to the grounds and creating a space for cultural, community and agriculture events, all family-oriented, affordable events.
Maloney said The Charity Pros would operate the land with an operational philosophy of giving back to the community through sharing revenue.
He said they would like to do a long-term lease of the grounds from Lee County and build the amphitheater, which he said is not a new concept as areas such as Tampa and West Palm Beach have fairgrounds and amphitheaters that go well together.
“The county might want to build it and that is OK, too. We have our designs and renderings already. (We have) architects and engineers already working on this,” he said.
Another portion of the redevelopment of the entire grounds would be implementing a clean surface water management plan, which has the opportunity to benefit the entire region, as it would eliminate flooding in the area.
Maloney said there are older stagnant lakes on the property that they want to clean. In addition, they want to tear out the asphalt and return it to all grounds.
The idea was originally pitched to the Lee County Board of Commissioners in March 2022, he said when nobody cared about what was going on at the Lee County Civic Center.
“It has been an eyesore for years,” Maloney said. “We want to keep it agricultural out there. We want to keep it. We want to work with 4-H and what they want.”
Maloney said The Charity Pros was founded by his daughter, Megan, to advocate for children’s social causes and live a better life. Shortly after it was founded, COVID hit, followed by Hurricane Ian, which did not slow down this organization. There were virtual shows put together, as well as live concerts when it was safer to congregate, as well as toy drives for those children that lost everything in the hurricane.
Throughout all of this Maloney said an idea sprung of building an amphitheater on the Lee County Civic Center grounds.
“We have always been a tier two market,” he said of moving originally to the area in 1982. “We never get the big acts. They didn’t come to Fort Myers. We didn’t have a big enough population.”
The population grew, but now there was a limit to becoming a tier one market, as there was nowhere to put big acts, Maloney said.
“I have always wanted to build this outdoor amphitheater.”
In March 2022, The Charity Pros met with the county. He said they wanted to share that an amphitheater would be a great thing for the community as it establishes an entertainment field.
Lee County spokesperson Betsy Clayton said the proposal has not been a formal topic of discussion thus far.
“This has never been an agenda item before the Lee Board of County Commissioners,” she said. “What has occurred are a few informal conversations with Charity Pro, some staff members and individual commissioners. That’s the extent of it.”
With discussion as to the fate of the aging complex pending, Maloney hopes to change that.
Maloney said The Charity Pros can do events and bring in big names, which they proved with the Hurricane Heroes concert at Hammond Stadium. He said it was the first time in decades a band was allowed on the Hammond Stadium field.
“We had a major concert and brought in a global band, Matchbox 20 to headline that,” he said, adding more than 6,000 people attended the concert.
The concert, which honored FK Your Diet which fed half a million people following the storm, Beach Talk Radio on Fort Myers Beach and Sheriff Carmine Marceno who kept law and order throughout the disaster.
The Lewis P. Tabarrini Children’s Music Outreach Foundation benefited.
Recent developments of the Civic Center
A discussion of all options for the county-owned complex is the next step.
“Staff is currently working with commissioners and the community to present options for long-term uses of the site. This has involved a public meeting in August, and a community wide survey. Next up there will be a Board workshop in early December where staff makes a presentation, and the commissioners have a discussion about uses and potential plans,” Clayton said.
Meanwhile, Lee County has taken over efforts to organize the centennial edition of the Southwest Florida Lee County Fair.
At the Oct. 17 Commission meeting, Assistant County Manager Christine Brady said staff developed a transition plan to take over management of the Civic Center property at the expiration of the Fair Board’s agreement of Sept. 30. Discussion included the terms and conditions of the management for the February 2024 annual fair.
That, and the 4-H youth program, are commission priorities.
“Since Sept. 30, the staff has worked on the transfer of the day-to-day management and functions of the property to our parks and recreation team,” Brady said. “The team has applied our existing fee structure for the use of parks and recreation facilities to the Civic Center to ensure that it is equitable and consistent. Staff has shadowed the fair board at various events, contacted the various vendors that have ongoing commitments at the property and just recently ran a successful Senior Expo.”
Conversations have been had with the University of Florida 4-H team partners to understand the ongoing needs of the youth program to thrive and be successful.
“Based on these conversations, and as of Sept. 30, the Fair Board removed the livestock pens, scales and bleachers. We will need to procure additional equipment for the 4-H that will be dedicated solely to that youth program,” Brady said.
She said negotiations with the Fair Board reached an impasse because they asked for items that did not meet the board’s direction.
“We cannot make a recommendation to continue with the current negotiations with the Fair Board that do not meet the board’s direction that does not allow flexibility for decisions the board will be making regarding the long-term future with that property,” Brady said.
County Manager Dave Harner said the Fair Board has no obligation, or rights to run the fair.
“If there is no agreement, they cannot do it,” he said. “We had to take charge and make sure the fair happens this year.”
Brady said they had a preliminary conversation with a third-party fair show vendor and they agreed to work with the county’s team for the annual 2024 fair in February.
The next step is a Commission workshop before the end of the year, Harner said.
“We’ve had a public meeting and survey with the community,” he said, adding that they have a general idea of what the community wants. “We build our parks based on the needs of the community. That will be what will happen here as well. It is classified as a park. It can be many things. It could be something we currently don’t have.”
Harner said the condition of the facility is failing and, unfortunately, some entities do not have the capacity to put money in the 30-year-old facility.
“It is hard to do when you are a nonprofit, or volunteer organization. The building is in disrepair. The place needs to be re-visioned and meet the needs of the community,” he said.
Harner said the county did a number of upgrades to the facility because it had to be done to operate the facility. That entailed a number of maintenance projects on the grounds to make sure it was safe, as well as the facility itself.
“Those are short term,” Harner said, which is why staff needs future direction from the commission.
“We have a great opportunity there,” Commissioner Mike Greenwell said during the October meeting. “I look forward to what staff brings us and the options in the future. We have a wonderful piece of property and there is going to be something wonderful for our community. I am looking forward to the workshop, so we can continue to move forward.”