All aboard

A Fort Myers train station that helped bring people and prosperity to Southwest Florida early in the previous century may soon take on the same role in 21st-century fashion.

Look for the transformation to happen by mid-2018, says Sarah Owen, president and CEO of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. Her organization is leading a
$10 million effort to transform the 1924 Atlantic Coast Line depot into a “collaboration accelerator” for nonprofit groups and other socially conscious organizations. It's also a catalyst for reviving a multiblock area of midtown Fort Myers, just outside the downtown core.

“I'm fascinated with the idea of old rail and how it used to connect the region,” Owen says. She also relishes the idea of renovating the 8,000-square-foot, 92-year-old depot at 2031 Jackson St., in addition to constructing an adjoining 10,000-square-foot building. The complex, officials say, will again connect the region, only now through a high-tech open workspace.