Lee County, FGCU interested in purchasing Hertz Arena

Is Hertz Arena up for sale?

If it is, some Lee County leaders say they are interested, and so is Florida Gulf Coast University.

The university wants to work with the county to build a new 50,000 foot office building located in a part of land that is currently used as parking for events.

Lee County says that FGCU approached them to see if they would like to purchase Hertz Arena.

The college says they are exploring partnerships to build a new administrative building.

Taxpayer Sandy Pladson feels that from a business standpoint, it doesn’t make sense.

“I’m a business person and sometimes, things when they aren’t run by the county or the state, they are much more profitable,” she said.

The county already uses the arena as a hurricane shelter and has spent a lot of money hardening the building to protect it from storms, but before the county moves into negotiations, they want to do their homework.

“We need to know how It will be funded how to pay for it we need to know if the arena supported itself from a revenue standpoint we don’t wanna create another burden on the taxpayers,” said Brian Hamman, a Lee County Commissioner.

FGCU is taking its time with the process as well. They acknowledge they want a new administrative building but told WINK News it is not an immediate need.

Although Pladson has her doubts, she thinks it is important to support the school.

“I think that in order to get college students here which are going to help your economy you need to keep them so they have to help them expand,” she said.

WINK News reached out to Hertz Arena on this matter and they declined to comment.

If it is sold to the county, the arena won’t be knocked down.