Group opposing East Naples Costco reaches compromise with retailer

During the public hearing in mid-October when Collier County commissioners approved ordinances allowing Costco Wholesale to build a new membership warehouse store and gas station in East Naples, the outspoken organizer of the community opposition group vowed to keep fighting the proposed development. 

“We are willing, ready and able to seek injunctive relief. This doesn’t end it here. We’re taking this to court,” said Frank Cipolla, a full-time resident of Esplanade at Hacienda Lakes, a residential community neighboring the new Costco planned for the southeast corner of Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Collier Boulevard. 

This month, the national retailer reached an agreement on a series of concessions with the local core opposition group, Cipolla announced Nov. 21. 

“This agreement avoids a long, drawn-out and expensive legal battle on both sides. When presented with the opportunity to talk first, before heading to court, we agreed,” Cipolla said. “Costco made contact and after lengthy talks agreed to additional safety, traffic and monetary concessions that will benefit all and hopefully make our corner safer than what was originally proposed. The ultimate goal was to stop this monstrosity from being built, but we are now satisfied that we can coexist.”  

Costco has agreed to alter routes for tanker truck gas deliveries, erect signs on-site to direct traffic away from the busy intersection, post additional signs for pedestrian safety at all crosswalks, install more landscaping to obscure the development from the residential community and road, retain the brick Hacienda Lakes community sign on the corner and the native vegetation behind it, as well as donate $35,000 to Esplanade at Hacienda Lakes to be used by the community’s homeowners association or the Hacienda Lakes Community Development District, Cipolla said. 

The group does not have a signed formal agreement with Costco, but emails between the community’s negotiators and Costco representative Brad Wester confirm the agreement by both parties, Cipolla said. Wester, vice president of land use and planning for Jacksonville law firm Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, could not be reached for comment. 

The agreement was reached after Esplanade at Hacienda Lakes residents with expertise in land-use issues entered into negotiations earlier this month with the Costco representative, Cipolla said. 

“Our negotiators later agreed to allow the store to be constructed and operated in harmony with the local community,” he said.

Community representatives opposed the new Costco site since the first neighborhood information meeting about the development in February, which was attended by more than 300 residents. The matter then was the subject of contentious public hearings by the Collier County Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners.

On Oct. 24, Costco Wholesale Corp. purchased the 25.86-acre undeveloped wooded property for nearly $19.4 million from Hacienda Lakes of Naples LLC. Costco is finalizing its local development plans with county staff and is targeted to break ground in early 2026 on its 162,000-square-foot big-box store with a freestanding gas station on the commercial tract of the Hacienda Lakes mixed-use planned unit development on Rattlesnake Hammock Road. 

According to the agreement outlined by the opposition group, Costco specifically will: 

• Install additional and enhanced signage for pedestrian safety at all crosswalks. 

• Install interior signage to direct traffic heading south to leave through the exit at the adjacent Physicians Regional Medical Center–Collier Boulevard.  

• Install interior signage to direct trucks to alternate routes coming into and leaving the lot in order to alleviate congestion on Rattlesnake Hammock Road. 

• Commit to saving native vegetation when and where possible on the site. 

• Install the required 25% additional landscaping and add plantings that will make the perimeter opaque within three to five years. 

• Donate $35,000 to the opposition group’s choice of the CDD or HOA. 

• Retain the brick Hacienda Lakes sign and the native vegetation behind it on that corner. 

• Work with the community to remove the raised concrete traffic triangle across from the Esplanade at Hacienda Lakes exit so that residents can use the road across from the exit to travel on Hacienda Lakes Parkway and avoid the corner of Rattlesnake Hammock and Collier Boulevard.