Lee County awards $1.45 million for an East Lee Hope Hub at a Lehigh Acres service site

Lee County has approved $1.45 million in federal disaster-recovery funding for the Salvation Army to establish the East Lee Hope Hub at 15 Homestead Road S. in Lehigh Acres.

The county's September 1 commission agenda lists the award as Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding for acquisition of the commercial property.

The agenda says the hub will operate as an extension of the Salvation Army's Center of Hope and is expected to serve about 1,200 residents each year.

Services planned for the Homestead Road site

The county record names six types of assistance planned for the building:

• Emergency food assistance
• Emergency financial assistance
• Housing navigation
• Rapid rehousing support
• Benefits enrollment
• Stabilization services

Those programs would give East Lee residents a local point of access for help that can otherwise require travel outside Lehigh Acres.

The property sale and the work still ahead

Gulfshore Business reporter David Dorsey reported that the Salvation Army paid $1.49 million on August 7 for the 11,144-square-foot warehouse on 1.88 acres. The property previously housed the Kiwanis Club of Lehigh Acres thrift store, which closed July 31 as the club wound down.

The county agenda anticipated acquisition by the fourth quarter. Dorsey's later deed-based report places the purchase in August. The public records reviewed here do not explain how the grant agreement will be applied to the completed transaction, so the two amounts should not be treated as separate construction funding.

The site is not ready to operate as a Hope Hub. Dorsey reported that the building needs a septic-to-sewer conversion and that the Salvation Army is waiting on permits and funding. Neither the county agenda nor the outlet report gives an opening date.