McCollum Hall

The Bridging the Gap Center for the Arts will host an immersive pop-up art experience titled “In Living Color: A Juneteenth Art Experience,” featuring Southwest Florida-based artist Richard Bravo. Ahead of the event on June 19, 2026, at McCollum Hall, we talk with the featured artist and Bridging the Gap founder and Executive Director Sonya McCarter.

The newest plans to revive historic McCollum Hall near downtown Fort Myers include a restaurant, music venue and business center. Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners approved the concept during its Wednesday meeting. Jeffrey Mudgett, one of the partners of Parker Mudgett Smith Architects, presented the plan to the mayor and City Council members acting as CRA commissioners.

The Gulf Coast Jazz Trio returns to the Music & Arts Community Center on Feb. 19 for a special performance that pays tribute to two of jazz music’s icons.

The results are in from a public survey, and they offer some possibilities about revitalizing McCollum Hall in Fort Myers. The hall in the Dunbar community was the center of African-American during several decades of racial segregation.

After nine years and three developers failed to draw up plans for the site, the Fort Myers 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 community engagement session tried to accomplish.

An agency of the City of Fort Myers is taking over the planning for how to restore McCollum Hall. The city's Community Redevelopment Agency, CRA, already is spending money to get help with ideas for the historic building.

A discussion about the future of historic McCollum Hall will have to wait another month. Wednesday’s meeting has been cancelled because of a lack of a quorum.The Fort Myers Community Redevelopment Agency is continuing to work on what should be done with McCollum Hall, said LeShaun Collier, deputy director of communications. The agency has set up a website, mccollumhall.com to keep the community updated.

Turning historic McCollum Hall in Fort Myers into a mixed-use development with co-working space and a restaurant is not only commercially viable but represents an opportunity for cultural and community revitalization.That was one of the findings from a feasibility analysis done with the help of AI by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The results will be discussed at Wednesday’s Fort Myers CRA meeting.

Fort Myers City Council approves $4.2 million for Community Redevelopment Agency to restore historic McCollum Hall.

By a 1-vote margin, Fort Myers City Council approved moving ahead with funding for the development of a historic Dunbar neighborhood landmark yesterday (Monday, June 2, 2025).