Regional economic development stuck

Don't expect the creation of a regional economic development effort in the Fort Myers-Naples area to spring up quickly.

“Today, it doesn't exist,” says James Moore, the director of the Lee County Economic Development Office.

Moore says the Southwest Florida area that encompasses Fort Myers and Naples is the only coastal region of the state that has no regional, multi-county economic development organization. “We're behind and we need to catch up,” he told a recent gathering of the Real Estate Investment Society in Fort Myers.