There was no shortage of emotion at the Quality Life Center in Fort Myers on Sept. 30, as the Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency hosted one of its input sessions to hear from nearly 40 community members, harkening back to special times they and their relatives experienced in historic McCollum Hall.
For decades, McCollum Hall was owned by the McCollum family and served as a vibrant community hub where residents of the segregated Dunbar area of Fort Myers could congregate, feel safe, and let loose. Its legacy and historical significance are notably identified by its music hall, one stop on the “Chitlin’ Circuit” that hosted many renowned performers such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and B.B. King. As time progressed, however, community members say interest and popularity faded while the building itself deteriorated, ultimately left on the community’s back burner—until now.
“It’s what…2025, and we still haven’t gotten it done?” Bryttoni McCarter, a chef and yoga instructor who has lived in Dunbar her entire life, said. “I feel like, honestly, it’s a slap in the face.”
After nine years and three developers failed to draw plans for the site, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency decided to take the lead on the McCollum Hall historic preservation and redevelopment project in early August. Since then, the agency has worked to engage the community, aiming to hear what people want for the building’s future and to deliver on those desires once and for all, precisely what the Sept. 30 meeting tried to accomplish.
“The whole point of this is to give the community what it wants,” Michele Hylton-Terry, the executive director of the agency for the past seven years, said. “We want to hear from the public because this is for them. The only way it is going to be successful is if they support it and they will support it if they build it.”
The CRA purchased the building in 2008 and completed a restoration project in 2016 that invested over $3 million to stabilize the structure, provide a new roof, preserve the Art Deco-style exterior, and remediate the surrounding environment.
The agency’s most recent partnership with developer Alexander Goshen resulted in the termination of its contract—the third contract termination with a different developer in the past decade. The plan would have allowed construction of a 26-unit multifamily residential building and a 14,200-square-foot food and market hall.
Now, the CRA is acting as the main developing entity, scheduling public input sessions and encouraging people to provide their ideas for the building’s future. The CRA enlisted Parker Mudgett Smith Architects to take the ideas from the sessions and formulate blueprints for possible plans.
Teresa Watkins Brown, Fort Myers councilwoman and chair of the CRA, said this is where community input and engagement become paramount, allowing leaders like her to heed the community’s wishes.
“I want to encourage everyone to get involved,” Brown said. “You can sit back and say, ‘It’s been a while; nothing has been done.’ But we still want to hear your voice and your desires for the building and what you would like to see within your community.”
Sixty-two-year-old Michael McCollum, the grandson of the hall’s developer, Clifford “Buck” McCollum Sr., was one of the attendees at the Sept. 30 session, consistently contributing to the conversation and brainstorming ideas for the site’s future. McCollum’s ideas ranged from a beauty parlor to a venue for community gatherings—ideas he said his grandfather would have enjoyed as a businessman. Living in the Dunbar area his entire life and watching as plans came and went, McCollum said it’s good to see the ball now rolling in the right direction.
“I’m glad we’re making some progress,” McCollum said. “But I would like to see something done before my mother leaves, or I leave…so that way, you know, she’ll at least get a chance to see, ‘OK, it’s back up and thriving again.’”
One of the many ideas McCollum mentioned during the meeting—which countless others cheered at—was the idea of an authentic soul food restaurant opening up in the building.
“After church, families used to sit down and eat, enjoy their meal,” McCollum said. “You know, after, we don’t have anywhere we could go. Something similar, like a Morrison's Cafeteria.”
McCarter said she is not only happy to see the spotlight back on the hall, but also that the history of the building is going to be preserved. She also encourages all community members to attend the meetings and provide their input.
“Show up and fight for what we have, because what we have in our community is very important, not just locally, but in the [entire] country,” McCarter said after the meeting. “That one place holds a lot of value, and I just want our community to get more involved and come to the meetings.”
Both Hylton-Terry and Brown said there are going to be other meetings scheduled where community members can do exactly that—two of which are scheduled for Oct. 9 at different times and through different mediums: virtual and in-person.
“It makes it real special to think about the days when I could walk along that corridor and see all of the economic development happening within my own community,” Brown said. “And I know this particular venue will begin to bring all of that back to my community.”
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