The Hall of 50 States sits like a battered, beaten and starved stray dog waiting for a new owner to find him and take him home. It looks like a new owner finally has arrived.
Fort Myers City Council, at a workshop this week, gave their unofficial approval to Jim Becker and his plans to refurbish the nearly 100-year-old building on Edwards Drive in downtown.
"As soon as they get the paperwork finished and I go over the contract and everything with them and we sign it I'm gonna start the next day and then I think it's going to take about 10 months," Becker said.
Council had few questions before telling the city manager to move forward with the contract. Council, earlier in October, turned down an unsolicited proposal by restauranter John Haley and his partner to take over the hall. Several other proposals have fallen through since the building was last occupied in 2005.
Becker is a lifelong resident of Fort Myers and has owned Sound Check Studios since 1977. He remembers watching his parents square dance inside the hall when he was 5 years old.
Becker's plan is to turn the building into a recording studio and event center for weddings, parties, meetings and concerts.
The hall will fill a need for events at a smaller venue that will hold about 425 people, he said.
Refurbishing the hall will cost about $1 million. He will move in $250,000 worth of sound equipment. The renovation will include added bathrooms, making it ADA compliant, soundproofing the hall, repairs to interior walls, painting and re-stuccoing the outside
"And then the old-time stage, I'm keeping real close to what it originally was, because that's got a lot of historic value. And then, of course, the wooden floor," he said.
Becker is requesting a 50-year lease at $1,000 per year plus property taxes if applicable. He also wants a purchase to buy option. A price would be part of the yet-to-be-signed agreement.
The Hall would bring in just over $1 million in revenue annually, with $830,600 in profit, according to his proposal. The revenue includes money from his sound studio as well as holding concerts and renting it out for events.
The Hall was built in 1927 as part of the Pleasure Pier. The pier was demolished in 1943, and the building was moved in two parts to Edwards Drive. The name was changed because of the flags hanging outside the building. It was popular hangout for soldiers training at Page and Buckingham fields during World War II.
Thomas Edison used to hold his birthday parties in the building and Becker wants to take advantage of that history. He said he will hold an Edison birthday party annually.
He's also been talking to the Edison-Ford Estates about teaming up so tourists can come down to the Hall of 50 States after their tour and see Edison's original recording device beside Becker's high-tech digital equipment to show the progress.
"It'll be an interesting tour," he said.
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