Affordable apartments being built along Michigan Ave in Fort Myers

On Tuesday, new affordable apartments broke ground in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard redevelopment area.

The now-vacant lot chosen as the site of St. Peter Claver Place Apartments will hopefully have 136 units built by 2024.

Fort Myers Councilwoman Teresa Watkins Brown says the need is there.

“Just the other day, a mother came up to me, and she said, ‘My granddaughter just moved back to Fort Myers, but she can’t find a place to live… can you help?'” Brown said.

The two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartments will cost between $600 and $1,300.

“We know we have a crisis in Fort Myers; everybody knows that, especially if you’re looking to rent a place,” said Bishop Frank Dewane of the Diocese of Venice.

Dewane says his diocese worked with the National Development of America, Inc. for seven years to make the St. Peter Claver Place Apartments happen.

“I think anytime you spend that amount of time and effort to get something to fruition, it’s very satisfying,” said Rick Miller, president of National Development of America.

When shovels hit the ground along Michigan Avenue during Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony, Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson was there alongside Miller, Dewane and Brown. He knows how much the project is needed.

“What’s really going to be great is when it’s completed, and we have that first family move in,” Anderson said. “That’s gonna be a great feeling.”

“I think if people don’t have a place to live, their family never forms; they themselves never really develop it as an individual,” Dewane said. “We know we see people on the streets here, we see people under bridges, we see people living in sub-standards… we have to change that.”

After the first 136 apartment units are finished, National Development of America plans to build 76 more.