Community input needed for renaming Challenger Boulevard

Reporter: Amy Oshier
Published: Updated:

While Lee Health continues construction on the area’s newest hospital, there are decisions to be made.

One is renaming Challenger Boulevard, the road that runs in front of the site.

The new campus sits on 52 acres of land between Colonial Boulevard and Winkler Avenue.

The health system will rename Challenger Boulevard.

770 suggestions from the public came in.

In the fall of 2027, Lee Memorial Hospital will close its doors for good, paving the way for a new hospital in a new location, and we all get to help name the road where it sits.

This new medical campus is a field of dreams for Lee Health. Although it has been approved for as many as 400 hospital beds, it will start with 120, along with an emergency room, skilled nursing facility, doctor’s offices and more.

The system calls it a state-of-the-art medical destination situated on Challenger Boulevard. The challenge now is to pick a new name.

After curating over 770 nominations, the field is narrowed to eight:

  • Better Health Boulevard
  • Caring Court
  • Compassion Court
  • Healing Lane
  • Healthy Way
  • Jones-Walker Road
  • Lee Health Way
  • Lewis Latimer Lane.

Most of the names are self-explanatory, but one, Jones-Walker Road, has a notable medical past.

It refers back to 1924 when Jones-Walker Hospital served Black residents in what is now Dunbar. That hospital was named after Melissa Jones and Candace Walker, who were instrumental in its founding and connection to Lee Memorial Hospital. Jones-Walker closed when the hospitals were integrated. Now, some believe the legacy could be preserved at the system’s newest location.

Lee Health’s website is asking the public to choose their favorite. The new name will be decided early in the new year.

Lee Health and the City of Fort Myers will decide together and ultimately rename the road.
There is no stated time for public input to close. Click here for more information.

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