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Lee County economic director says region is diversifying, flags healthcare growth, airport expansion and water stress

City of Fort Myers Economic Development Advisory Board · December 4, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Lee County economic development director John Talmadge told the Fort Myers advisory board that the county's economy is shifting toward health care, advanced manufacturing and logistics while infrastructure—particularly water and shovel-ready sites—lags behind growth.

Lee County economic development director John Talmadge told the City of Fort Myers Economic Development Advisory Board on Dec. 4 that the county’s economy is broadening beyond tourism and construction, driven by new health-care providers, manufacturing and airport-driven logistics.

“We now have 11 health care systems operating in Lee County,” Talmadge said, naming multiple systems and several medical and pharmaceutical firms that have recently relocated or expanded in the region. He said the county is attracting specialized providers and research operations, including firms in regenerative medicine and new pharmaceutical headquarters.

Talmadge linked those…

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