Officials broke ground Thursday morning on a huge, new housing development in the Dunbar community in Fort Myers.
Legacy Point will have 373 units. It will be built on what used to be Southward Village in Dunbar.
Officials call Legacy Point: mixed-income, meaning some units will be market rate, some will be work-force housing, and some will be for lower-income people.
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The community on Edison Avenue will have a food market and other amenities for residents.
About 75 people, including the Dunbar High School band, turned out for the event.
Terolyn Watson said she grew up in the old Southward Village. Now she serves on the Fort Myers City Council.
"It was a lovely day here for me," Watson said. "Very personal. I take this to heart. And I make a dedication to Fort Myers, to the citizens, that this thing is done right. It takes somebody from here to make sure it is right, and I am from the neighborhood."
Sabrina Shelton said she used to live in Southward Village, and had to move to other public housing when Southward was town down after Hurricane Ian. She attended the ground-breaking, and said she is anxious to move into Legacy Point.
"It is great to build a bigger and better place," Shelton said. "It means a lot to walk into a brand new place. Thank God."
Funding for Legacy Point is coming from a number of sources, including tens of millions of dollars from the federal government. Those funds were committed to help Dunbar rebuild after Ian, with more modern and resilient housing.
"This is monumental," Marcia Davis, Fort Myers Housing Authority Director, said.
She went on to describe the hundreds of hours of work it took to put together financing for the $80-million project. "You have to have some guts and grit to get to this point," she said.
The first phase of construction will bring 150 units to Legacy Point. The new residents will include about 200 people who had to move to other public housing when Southward Village was torn down. The first residents are expected to move in by spring of 2027.
The entire project is expected to be completed in spring of 2028.
Mike Walcher is a reporter at WGCU News. He also teaches Journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore is a multi-media journalist at WGCU News. WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.
