Tim Aten Knows: Site work begins for 2 housing projects

Q: They look to finally be breaking ground at the southwest corner of Lely and Collier Boulevard. Any word on what’s going there? – Paul Cumello, Naples 

A: Site work began in July for a new 184-unit low-rise multifamily residential community on the more than 9-acre undeveloped parcel on the southwest corner of Collier Boulevard and Grand Lely Drive. 

One three-story apartment building and five two-story buildings with townhomes will be built at 7665 Collier Blvd. in the Lely Resort planned unit development. Construction is targeted for completion by July 1, 2027, according to construction plans approved by Collier County. 

Bordered on the west and south by Celeste Drive, the property mirrors the shape and size of the real estate across Grand Lely Drive to its north, where Stock Development created the Stock Plaza commercial center between 2016 and 2018. 

The residential project is being developed by Davis Development, doing business as DD Celeste LLC, with general contractor Morrow Construction, a subsidiary of Davis. The companies are jointly based in Stockbridge, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. 

Davis Development and Morrow Construction develop, construct and manage apartment communities throughout Florida and seven other states. The companies previously teamed up locally to build The Pearl luxury apartments in Founders Square on the southeast corner of Collier Boulevard and Immokalee Road in North Naples. 

The new 243,292-square-foot multifamily residential community at Lely Resort has yet to be formally named in architectural plans still under review by the county. 

“We haven’t named it yet to my knowledge,” said project manager Kyle Osborne of Morrow Construction. 

The main, three-story Building 1000 will have dwelling units with amenities, a courtyard and a parking garage for residents. Building plans show a clubhouse area featuring a speakeasy, aqua lounge, fitness center with a mezzanine, yoga/spin room, golf simulator, media room, cyber cafe, dog wash/spa, bike storage and repair room, and guest suites, according to architectural plans by Atlanta-based Geheber Lewis Associates.  

Two-story townhomes are planned in five buildings that will line the western perimeter of the property. Architectural plans show 156 one- and two-bedroom units in Building 1000; six townhome units each in Buildings 100, 200 and 300; and five townhomes each in Buildings 400 and 500. 

Geheber Lewis Architects also designed another apartment complex under construction in the Naples area. Work began this year on Vintage Naples, a four-story project with 400 units among four buildings in The Randall at Orangetree development near the Randall Curve off Immokalee Road in Golden Gate Estates. 

The Lely Resort PUD property where the new housing development will be built on Collier Boulevard was previously zoned C-3 and proposed for other commercial uses years ago. The rezoned real estate has been known as Lely Resort Tract 12 and Celeste North at Lely Resort. Stock Development, the developer of the nearly 2,900-acre Lely Resort, sold the 9.14-acre parcel to Davis Development for $6.95 million in 2022. 

Turn lanes into the future housing community are being built first, Osborne said. Plans show two right-in/right-out access points for the community, one each on Grand Lely Drive and Collier Boulevard.  

More housing units 

Site clearing also began this summer for another multifamily housing project in North Naples. Demolition began in late August ahead of ground-up construction of Mattson at Vanderbilt, a four-story building with 150 multifamily rental units approved for 5.88 acres on the north side of Vanderbilt Beach Road just east of Livingston Road.   

The apartment complex will be located between the Bradford Square and Sandalwood Village senior housing communities, on two adjoining properties that were home for many years to Naples Safari Animal Hospital & Pet Resort and Bobbin Hollow Equestrian Center at 3333 and 3375 Vanderbilt Beach Road, respectively. The veterinarian clinic closed in August 2023, and the equestrian center relocated to Ocala years ago. As part of the redevelopment project by Minnesota-based Roers Companies, structures on both properties were razed in late July and early August.  

Last October, the Collier County Commission approved the amendment of the growth management plan to create the Mattson at Vanderbilt Residential Subdistrict. The majority of Mattson’s 150 residential units will be market-rate, but 72 apartments will be rent-restricted units. The developer will reserve 10% of Mattson’s apartments at or below 50% of the county’s area median income, which is $104,300 annually. In addition, 15% of the total units will be reserved for at or below 80% of Collier’s AMI, 15% at or below 100% AMI and 8% at or below 120% AMI. Priority will be given to essential-services employees, such as firefighters, law enforcement officers, nurses and teachers.  

Plans for the Mattson at Vanderbilt residential planned unit development show an H-shaped, four-wing building with an outdoor swimming pool, fire pit, grilling stations and dog park on its north side and a circular drive with a water feature and porte cochere on the south side. Interior amenities near the building’s lobby will include fitness areas, a club room, game room, lounge, work-from-home space and dog wash, architectural plans show.  

The development will have one right-in/right-out access on Vanderbilt Beach Road. Parking spaces will surround the apartment building.  

Roers already has another North Naples development under construction; the development firm also is building The Karlyn, a 159-unit senior housing community on the south side of Immokalee Road just east of Logan Boulevard.   

The Tim Aten Knows weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim.aten@naplespress.com