NCH plans 150-bed hospital for Ave Maria community

Naples Comprehensive Health plans to build a 150-bed hospital in Ave Maria, bringing long-awaited medical services to the growing community and eastern Collier County. The project will rise in four phases on 18 acres donated by Barron Collier Cos. and Ave Maria Development. 

Neither party disclosed the valuation of the donated land, but some recent sales of similar land in Ave Maria show prices of approximately $146,000 per acre, which could mean a total value of about $2.6 million. 

Plans call for the medical complex to include a professional services building for physicians and be built at the northeast corner of Oil Well Road and Arthrex Commerce Park Drive. 

This follows the opening in spring 2025 of an NCH immediate care center in Ave Maria, part of an ongoing strategic growth plan for the system in eastern Collier County. 

Jonathan Kling, NCH’s chief operations officer, said the health care system is committed to building its fourth acute-care hospital on the site, with construction expected to begin within two years. 

“We have committed to kick off our project planning session on Nov. 3, to sit down and look at the site designs, the master plan, all the phasing, road improvements — all the things that have to be planned to support a facility or project like this,” Kling said. “And we’re committing to within two years we would start construction on the first phase of the hospital and we’re going to be doing this in phases as the population and demand grows out there.” 

When asked about potential job creation, Kling said the project is expected to generate significant employment opportunities throughout its planning, construction and operational phases. He added that a hospital typically employs three to five people per licensed bed, meaning the 150-bed facility could eventually support 450 to 750 skilled workers. 

He said there are not currently plans for workforce housing as part of the project, but that could change as plans evolve. 

“The good news is that staff should be better able to afford housing in the traditionally more affordable eastern part of the county,” Kling said. 

Plans start with 24/7 emergency care 

Kling said the first phase of the estimated 10-year project would be a freestanding 24/7 emergency department with medical offices and clinical facilities to support the ER, including imaging and laboratory functions. 

The second phase would add operating rooms and additional medical clinical spaces, Kling said, while the third and fourth phases would be two four-story inpatient bed towers totaling 150 beds. 

“This would be a phased project over time as population dictates, so it could be faster or slower,” Kling said. “If it grows faster, our plans could change; if it grows slower, we could push out a little bit. We want to make sure we’re good stewards of our resources while meeting the clinical demand and the health care needs of that community.” 

He said estimated costs for the 25,000-square-foot first phase are not yet available but should be known by December after the initial planning sessions start in November. 

Bringing essential services to Ave Maria 

Cee Cee Marinelli, vice president of commercial real estate for Barron Collier Cos., said essential services such as health care are vital to “making a thriving community.” 

“It’s obviously going to be great for residents of Ave Maria, as well as eastern Collier County, because access to high-quality health care is essential,” Marinelli said. “The convenience of having NCH within Ave Maria will improve the overall quality of life for the residents. It’s exciting for residents to no longer have to drive for routine checkups, but more importantly, they’ll have a sense of peace knowing that should they ever need emergency care, it’s right there, kind of in their backyard.”

Marinelli said Barron Collier has closed on more than 5,600 homes in Ave Maria, for a total population between 15,000 and 20,000 residents, plus another 1,500 students at Ave Maria University. The company has entitlements for 11,000 homes, meaning the town is not yet halfway complete. 

The growing community has not had a hospital since its founding 20 years ago, although there were previous plans for one.  

In 2018, Dr. Beau Braden, who founded the Braden Clinic in Ave Maria in 2015, announced plans to build Braden Hospital in the community. NCH initially opposed the plan but later withdrew its opposition in 2019. The Braden Hospital plans never came to fruition. Braden Clinic was bought in 2023 by South Health, which now operates Mater Dei Clinic in the same location. 

‘A godsend’ for eastern Collier County 

Collier County District 5 Commissioner Bill McDaniel said he sees the planned hospital as a “godsend” not just for Ave Maria but for the entire eastern part of the county. 

“The bottom line is, for our residents that live in Immokalee, they’re a 45-minute ride away to the first emergency room facility that is there at [State Road] 951 and Immokalee Road,” McDaniel said. “So, having this facility right there in Ave Maria is certainly going to enhance the quality of life for residents there. But it’s not going to be just an Ave Maria hospital. It will be a hospital for all of eastern Collier County.” 

McDaniel said essential services, such as health care, will be increasingly important as Collier County continues to grow to the east. 

“I think we’re running at about 8% to 10% population growth, and we’re at about 400,000 now,” McDaniel said. “So, we’re going to pick up another 20,000 in the next four years and the majority of the growth will be east of 951. It’s ultimately projected that when Collier County reaches build-out, with that population estimated somewhere between 800,000 and a million people, there will be a larger population living east of 951 than west.”