A shadow: Temple Emanu-El is but a disappearing shell as workers this past weekend began tearing down the synagogue and clearing the land for a new Dollar General store. Photo by Mel Toadvine

The long-standing Temple Emanu-El at 500 Joel Blvd., that stood on the corner of E. 5th St. for at least 30 to 40 years in Lehigh Acres has been torn down to make way for a large Dollar General store to be erected on the rear of the site.

Late last week, workers with heavy equipment were tearing down the old landmark and clearing the property and the Realtor who sold the property says Dollar General is ready to build as soon as possible.

Al Harkin with Remax Realty Group in Fort Myers said it is his understanding that Dollar General has been going through the permitting process and as soon as they can, they plan to have construction people on the site. He said the rear part of the land had to be rezoned commercial as was the front of the lot.

He said they hope to have the new Dollar General store completed by spring or early summer at the latest.

The store will be built on 1.87 acres of land that was owned by the Temple Emanu-El group in Fort Myers. The Jewish temple has been closed for at least four years or five years.

Temple coming down: Lehigh’s only Jewish synagogue, Temple Emanu-El was torn down on the last few days of 2010 to make room for a large Dollar General Store. Photo by Mel Toadvine

It shut down because of decreased attendance and the fact that a lot of Jewish people were attending the synagogue in Fort Myers, which owned the one in Lehigh, plus the fact that the Jewish population in Lehigh had dwindled to only a few Jewish families at best, not enough to support the synagogue in Lehigh.

Arkin said the property sold for $500,000 and that Dollar General planned the store, which will be next to Jack’s Market, because of projected planned growth in population once the recession is over.

He said the building will be approximately 9,200 square feet, much larger than the present store in the Lehigh Town Centre on the corner of Alabama and Homestead roads. Arkin said it could have been larger if the lot had been larger.

He said it was his understanding that the store at the shopping center in downtown Lehigh will remain open.

Not everyone was happy that Dollar General wanted to build a store there. Some objected to more traffic and one gentleman who lives on E. 5th St. said he wasn’t against Dollar General, but he was upset at where the entrance is to be located, directly across from his condo driveway.

Looking through rubble: A worker looks through rubble before it is heaped on large trucks and hauled away. It once was the site of a Jewish synagogue in Lehigh Acres. Photo by Mel Toadvine

“There’s going to be a lot of traffic on this street and I can just imagine how many accidents there will be. I would have loved to have seen the entrance off of Joel Blvd., but I was told it was impossible to do. The DOT in the county said shoppers would have to turn into E. 5th St. and go down a few hundred feet to enter the Dollar General property,” said Mark Jackson, who has lived at 2340 E. 5th Street, across from the old synagogue for eight years.

It’s the same entrance that worshipers entered the Temple Emanu-El property. The temple was at the front of the lot while parking was in the rear. It appears that parking for the store will be in the front with the store in the back.

Motorists could probably take a back way by entering the streets past Jack’s Market and winding their way back to E. 5th St., too.

But looking on the positive side, Jackson said he had an application form for employment and might fill it out.

“It will provide jobs in Lehigh and that is good news because of the way things are now. I’m not against Dollar General, but just the way traffic will be going into the property,” he said.

There were advertised public hearings on the county level and Jackson said only four people, himself and three neighbors attended the hearing in Fort Myers.

“Some didn’t want the store there because of the traffic and the noise but mostly we wanted to see an entrance off Joel Blvd.” Jackson said.

Jackson also said E. 5th Street will be widened two feet however and that he has been told there will be sidewalks around the property.

The workers on the land said it would take three days to tear down the temple and to clear the land. They planned to have the job done by this past Monday.

In its heyday, Temple Emanu-El had a large congregation of Jewish worshipers.

Many of the early employees of the old Lehigh Corporation were Jewish and Lee Ratner, who purchased the land that is now Lehigh Acres, likely gave the land for the temple.

The Lehigh Corporation was known for giving land to groups of worshipers of other religious denominations throughout Lehigh so churches could be constructed back in the 1960s.

The developers of the Dollar General are CSC Properties Inc. of Lakeland, Fla., according to Arkin.