Collier backs 4,500-home Corkscrew Grove East Village

Corkscrew Grove East Village, a proposed community of more than 4,500 homes on eastern Collier County farmland and former citrus groves, has taken a step forward and will head to the Board of County Commissioners for approval.

It is the first of two villages planned within a newly created district. A second, Corkscrew Grove West Village, also is planned with roughly 4,500 homes.

The Collier County Planning Commission on March 19 unanimously recommended designating about 1,446.5 acres within the Rural Lands Stewardship Area zoning overlay to allow development of 4,502 homes, including affordable housing. A stewardship receiving area is a designated location within the program approved for higher-density development using credits generated from preserving environmentally sensitive lands elsewhere, known as stewardship sending areas. The system is intended to encourage more compact, sustainable growth rather than urban sprawl.

Collier County’s Rural Lands Stewardship Area program was approved in 2002 and spans about 185,000 acres in eastern Collier. The independent Corkscrew Grove Stewardship District was created in June, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation allowing up to 9,000 homes across the two villages.

Corkscrew Grove East Village is planned on both sides of Corkscrew Road and along State Road 82. The land, owned by Fort Myers-based Alico Inc., includes a citrus grove that is winding down operations.

“Alico was the largest citrus grower in the state, if not the United States, and on Jan. 6, 2025, Alico announced that it’s no longer economically viable to produce citrus as a publicly traded company,” said Mitch Hutchcraft, the company’s executive vice president.

He said some citrus harvesting is still underway, while portions of the land are being converted to grass and used for cattle.

The proposal, along with a related stewardship sending area petition, will go before county commissioners and still faces additional environmental approvals from agencies including the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Land-use attorney Rich Yovanovich, who represented Alico, said the Corkscrew Grove East Village application is one of nine submitted under the program, with eight already approved.

Plans for the village include 4,502 residential units at a density of about 3.11 per acre, including 362 affordable units. Senior housing, including assisted-living and continuing-care facilities, is capped at 300 units.

The development also calls for 8.5 acres of neighborhood amenities, more than 516 acres of open space, and up to 238,606 square feet of commercial space within a nearly 170-acre village center. That area could include retail, offices, civic uses and up to 100,000 square feet of indoor self-storage.

Engineer Bob Mulhere, of Bowman, said the project is designed to reduce long commutes by providing housing near jobs and incorporating neighborhood services, such as grocery stores, restaurants, offices and public facilities.

“It’s designed to allow folks to bike, walk and provide other means of getting around the village … without having to drive,” Mulhere said.

Six public speakers addressed the commission. Some raised concerns about urban sprawl and impacts to wildlife, noting the project borders a corridor used by Florida panthers.

Hutchcraft said plans include 250- to 300-foot-wide lakes to create separation from the corridor, along with fencing to guide wildlife toward a planned underpass along State Road 82.

Marissa Figueroa, of Audubon Florida, said the organization supports the environmental components of the proposal, citing habitat restoration, wildlife connectivity and a large underpass designed to allow movement of panthers and other species.

“These conversations have been very constructive, very solutions focused and very responsive,” Figueroa said. “Audubon Florida is supportive of the significant environmental components included in the Corkscrew Grove East Village SRA application and we look forward to continued collaboration … not only for the East Village but also for the West Village and the stewardship sending areas.”

Others on the project team include J.R. Evans Engineering; economic and real estate analyst Development Financing & Planning Group Inc.; traffic engineering firm Trebilcock Consulting Solutions Inc.; and ecological and environmental consultant Passarella & Associates Inc. 

The second village, Corkscrew Grove West Village, is planned in northwest Collier County near Lee and Hendry county lines, with construction anticipated in 2028 or 2029.