With 122,500 residents, Lehigh Acres is one of Southwest Florida’s most affordable real estate markets. This unincorporated area of east-central Lee County is also on the radar of government and school officials who collectively are planning economic opportunities focused on small business growth, a defined downtown, and new schools for more than 8,000 students.
Spanning 96 square miles, Lehigh Acres is home to national and local businesses, championship golf courses, minutes from the Boston Red Sox spring training home at JetBlue Park, 12 miles from historic downtown Fort Myers and close to Gulf of Mexico beaches. It features 175 miles of canals and 16 well-stocked fishing lakes.
In the works are a proposed Alico Road extension to U.S. 82 for a new north-south connection and the county’s $16.6 million 42-acre expansion of Lehigh Acres Park, which will add three football/soccer fields, a disc golf course, pickleball courts, a fishing pier and observation deck, and a six-mile multimodal path along Able Canal connecting to other parks.
Community planning efforts in Lehigh Acres highlight vibrant neighborhoods, commercial and employment centers, active parks, and public spaces. The proposed Downtown Lehigh Acres is envisioned as a dynamic live-work commercial center with public and private education, retail, office, medical, entertainment, and arts opportunities enhancing the community’s multigenerational small-town ambiance.
Lehigh Acres residents enjoy extensive outdoor recreation, including the community pool, outdoor fitness stations, football and softball fields, and tennis courts at Lehigh Acres Park; a dog park, cricket field, splashpad, trails, a skate park, tennis, sand volleyball and pickleball courts at Veterans Park; the half-mile trail at Lehigh Acres Trailhead Park encircling a three-acre replicated prairie; and access to the 625-acre Frank Mann Preserve offering kayaking, canoeing, fishing, birdwatching, and trails.
