FORT MYERS, Fla. — Construction has officially started on a new $30 million senior living complex in Fort Myers that will provide affordable housing for low-income seniors.
The apartment complex, Strayhorn Place, will be located off Lafayette Street and US 41 and will feature 80 units for people 62 and older.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price explain who will move in first:
"It has all the amenities that a new senior center would have, meaning that easy accommodation, easy access, larger doors, cabinets and countertops made to adapt for senior use," said Bruce Strayhorn, chairman of the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers.
The facility will include a beauty salon, senior cafe, gym, wellness center, game room, and computers for residents.
Strayhorn hopes the project will be completed in less than four years.
"A lot of times the seniors are the most quietly overlooked of the low income. You often don't hear from the seniors. They're just happy to be able to survive," Strayhorn said.
Marcia Davis, executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers, emphasized that community needs were central to the design process.
"A place of dignity for our seniors that need it, because we all need affordable housing. But just imagine if you were living off Social Security, and how do you afford housing? And so we are so fortunate and blessed that we are able to provide this," Davis said.
According to Davis, seniors who previously lived in the Royal Palm Towers in downtown Fort Myers, will have priority for units in the new complex.
"So it's going to take us about 18 months and well, you know, under construction. So when we get to the point of taking reservations. I think I got 50 here today," Davis said.
The location is significant for Fort Myers Council Member Liston Bochette, whose grandfather once owned the land.
"He would probably sit in the back and just shake his head and say, I did it because it's the right thing to do," Bochette said.
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