Most Southwest Florida developments touted as places where residents can live, work and play, fall woefully short of their promises. But that’s not the case at Ave Maria, where Barron Collier Companies and Tom Monaghan are creating a community that not only lives up to its hometown billing, but also sets a new standard for comprehensive land planning and commercial development.
Located on 5,000 acres in eastern Collier County, Ave Maria is both a town and the nation’s newest university in the Catholic tradition. Currently, the town includes 100,000sf of commercial space and an expanding population of 1,000 residents, while Ave Maria University boasts approximately 1,200 students on various campuses. Its oratory, which is operated by the Diocese of Venice, opened last year and can accommodate 1,100 parishioners.
As the town grows, churches of other faiths are expected to appear, dispelling any lingering ideas that Ave Maria is restricted to Catholics. It is not. At buildout, plans call for up to 1.2 million sf of commercial space and 11,000 homes, with enrollment of up to 5,500 students at the university.
“Ave Maria is different from any other place in Naples, “says Cee Cee Marinelli, a commercial leasing and marketing specialist for Barron Collier in Naples. “We are phasing in all the amenities of an actual city, while maintaining a small town feel.”
History
Marinelli’s father, Paul Marinelli, was instrumental in launching the massive project. Until his death last spring, he served as Barron Collier’s president and CEO and is credited with forging his company’s development partnership in 2002 with Tom Monaghan, Domino’s Pizza founder and chairman of the Ave Maria Foundation. Both had innovative ideas about education and land planning, as well as the means to execute them.
Their timing was nothing short of miraculous.
Just as Monaghan was garnering support to create Ave Maria University, Barron Collier was about to unveil a new land-planning program for undeveloped eastern Collier County. The revolutionary initiative, known as the Rural Land Stewardship Program, is designed to encourage growth and development while protecting the area’s environment and agriculture.
Ave Maria University meshed perfectly with Barron Collier’s vision of building a self-sustaining, ecologically-sensitive town, and so the company donated 1,000 acres of its 5,000-acre tract to the university. In 2005, both entities began development, side by side.
“I think that with the town of Ave Maria, my dad was hoping to create a community where neighbors know neighbors and friendships span across generations,” says Marinelli. Ave Maria University provided the impetus to establish something similar in Southwest Florida.
“The university gave us the ability to create something unique, complete with culture and the arts, to complement the life-long learning opportunities it offers.” As a result, Ave Maria transcends the typical master-planned community.
La Piazza
Besides being a great place to live, Ave Maria features a burgeoning commercial component. Favorable zoning and an abundance of land provide for “a wide range of commercial opportunities,” says Marinelli.
La Piazza is a mixed-use center that is considered the heart of the community. Six buildings have been completed there, providing 100,000sf of retail and office space. Already, more than half of the retail space has been leased, much of it to tenants who also live in the community.
To ensure consistent results and tenant success, Barron Collier selected Naples-based Professional Building Systems (PBS) as a preferred tenant improvement coordinator. As such, the company acts as an advocate for both the landlord and store owners, guiding them through the construction process. From concept to completion, the firm’s goal is to help each business owner build out space that is functional and attractive with as few change orders as possible.
“It’s a matter of understanding the design philosophy of the project. We want to determine what design elements are most important to the owner and how they need to utilize the space. Then we work towards achieving those goals within a realistic budget,” says Mario Valle, LEED AP, project executive for PBS at Ave Maria. “In this role, we work closely with Barron Collier, the owner and the architect. These relationships are based on trust and honesty, so that we successfully meet the clients’ goals.”
The popular coffee shop and restaurant, The Bean at Ave Maria, features a contemporary industrial design with curves, lines and exposed beams to appeal to younger students as well as older residents. Complete with WiFi access, the shop has become the community’s social hub.
“I have gone through this process at other locations and I always acted as my own contractor,” says Daniel Dix, who owns The Bean with his wife Monica. “I thought that working with a contractor would make things more difficult and expensive. Boy was I wrong. Working with PBS has made this buildout much (easier) than my previous ones.”
Valle himself is a faithful customer and says that he and his co-workers make a point to patronize Ave Maria’s retailers. “We want to support their businesses and maintain lasting relationships,” he says.
PBS and Barron Collier are now working with the Dixes to expand their coffee shop to include The Queen Mary Pub. The English-themed, full-service restaurant and bar will connect to the coffee shop, effectively doubling its 2,200sf. The pub is expected to open in April.
In addition to The Bean, resident-owned businesses include Tropical Smoothie, a dental practice, bookstore, toy store and packing/shipping store. There is also a florist, beauty salon and golf cart sales and service center, as well as a Lutgert Insurance office and EPN Urgent Care facility, both of which expanded from Naples.
Other retailers are coming soon, most notably a 28,000sf Publix grocery store that will open this summer. Construction also is underway on Milano’s Pizza, which is expected to open in September.
“We want companies to realize how convenient it is to locate here,” says Marinelli, who makes the daily drive from her north Naples home in less than 30 minutes. “It’s closer than Gulf Coast Town Center or Coconut Point from downtown Naples, and there’s a lot less traffic to fight.”
To attract guests and help promote the businesses in La Piazza, Barron Collier sponsors different free events throughout the year. “That way, area residents have a reason to come out and see what we have to offer,” Marinelli adds.
One of the largest is the Festival of the Arts, a major fundraiser now in its second year. This year’s festival is on Sunday, March 22, and will feature local and national artists, artisans and dancers, as well as theater, poetry and more. This and other community-centered events typically attract more than 1,000 guests, in addition to the residents of Ave Maria.
Other Commercial Opportunities
Besides La Piazza, there is the Park of Commerce, comprised mainly of outparcels and planned to include retail strip centers and medical office development. A DiVita Dialysis Center is scheduled to open there soon, followed by a BP gas station, now under construction and slated for summer completion.
In addition to outparcels for sale, there are larger tracts for sale or lease and build-to suit-options, as well as completed retail and office space for lease. “We have ample room for light industrial and manufacturing. It’s ideal for distribution centers (because) we’re not that far from Miami. You can get to the Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports in about an hour and 10 minutes and to Westin in 40 minutes.”
But unlike Miami-Dade, Ave Maria has the land and capacity to support growing companies. “We want to help expand the economy in Collier County and Southwest Florida, so that it’s not just tourism and construction,” says Marinelli. Toward that end, Barron Collier has been working closely with the county’s Economic Development Council, which has an office at La Piazza. -
Coffee Shop Owners Savor Living, Working at Ave Maria
As residents and business owners at Ave Maria, Daniel and Monica Dix have found the perfect way to blend work and family life: They live above their coffee shop, The Bean at Ave Maria, with their three young daughters.
“When you have kids, it’s very hard to balance home life and work,” says Daniel Dix. “My wife and I wanted to mesh modern life with what was important to us — our family.”
Dix opened his first coffee shop on Sanibel 11 years ago, followed by shops in Cape Coral and Fort Myers. He became acquainted with Ave Maria several years ago through the university while studying for his master’s degree in theology, which he has since received. “We were the first business to contact Barron Collier about opening,” he says.
He and his family were ready for a lifestyle change, as well. Too many hours spent in traffic and at work, and not enough time with his family had become, well, a grind for Dix, who was “sick of the urban sprawl and the old way of doing business.” So like a growing number of Southwest Florida residents, he and his family decided to relocate to Ave Maria.
Although the Dixes considered buying a home in one of Ave Maria’s neighborhoods, they opted for a three-bedroom condo above The Bean. “It’s smaller than our two-story home in Fort Myers, but that didn’t really concern us,” says Dix. “Besides, I’ve lived abroad, where (small apartments) are typical. You just make do with less space. It’s actually very liberating.”
Since opening the shop in December 2007, the Dixes have relished the convenience of their new life. “It’s very satisfying to be able to cut out so much drive time,” he says. “When you own a restaurant, you’re always getting called in anyway. It’s great to be able to run upstairs and be with my family if things slow down in the restaurant. Plus, I value being close to a university, where I can attend lectures and take classes.”
More important, says Dix, is feeling personally connected with the community. “I think there’s a hunger to get away from the chain retail environment and back to the independent, mom-and-pop stores. I hope that Ave Maria will maintain that focus (because) I like knowing my customers and fellow merchants on a first-name basis. It’s a very rich life.”
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