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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nOnce #10 on Travel and Leisure\u2019s \u2018List of World\u2019s Eeriest Abandoned Places,\u2019 Lehigh Acres is now thriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2020 census revealed Lehigh Acres saw a population increase of 31.69% from 2010, compared with Lee County\u2019s overall population, which saw a 22.96% increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Lehigh Acres residents said there\u2019s a need for more development to accommodate the growth and it\u2019s coming in the form of schools, hospitals and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lee County Economic Development Office said it\u2019s committed to economic development in Lehigh Acres, particularly focusing on small business development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLehigh Acres is one of the fastest growing communities in Lee County as indicated by the recent surge of new grocery stores including Fresco y Mas, Bravo and Key Foods,\u201d said Lee County Economic Development Director John Talmage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talmage said since the pandemic, more than 900 businesses have applied for a Business Tax Receipt (BTR) to start a business in Lehigh, joining the 3,857 businesses already there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coldwell Banker Real Estate Agent, Jon Hunt said he\u2019s noticed more growth in Lehigh now than there has been in the last 10-15 years. One reason is affordability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs Cape Coral has gone up in price and Fort Myers has gone up in price, it\u2019s becoming the new hot spot to build a new construction home,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Older homes are flying off the market too. That\u2019s why Dana Hansen decided now\u2019s the time to sell her place in Lehigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To meet the growth, the Lee County School District is building new schools in its east zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn total there are seven new schools, four schools getting additions and renovations and two new Pre-K centers in the East Zone. The new schools alone will add more than 8,000 student stations in the East Zone,\u201d said Lee County School District spokesman, Rob Spicker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where you have more people, you also need more health care. That\u2019s why Lee Health said it\u2019s excited to be planning a new hospital along Challenger Boulevard between Colonial Blvd and Winkler Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new hospital will be five miles from the heart of Lehigh Acres. It\u2019s expected to be open in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HCA Healthcare has also announced it\u2019s also building a new hospital along Colonial Blvd. near Metro Parkway. That one is expected to be finished in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lehigh Acres is an unincorporated area and Municipal District in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 Census the population was 135,272. Once #10 on Travel and Leisure\u2019s \u2018List of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":56341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[1966],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56342,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56340\/revisions\/56342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}