After a nearly 12 hour meeting, Collier County commissioners voted 4-1 to approve a controversial new development across from Vanderbilt Beach.
The Plans
‘One Naples’ will be constructed by Stock Development on the parcel directly across from the Ritz Carlton. Currently, Beach Box restaurant, DaRuMa Steakhouse and several homes and various other businesses occupy the space. All of these will be demolished.
The developer presented 2 different plans to County Commissioners at the March 1st meeting. One plan was strictly commercial, with lots of shops and restaurant space. The other plan was for luxury residential towers with a few commercial spaces on the lower level.
After much discussion, the county commissioners voted to approve the residential plan, because it would create less traffic than the commercial plan. The residential plan will include two, 12-story high rises and three, 5-story low rises. In total, One Naples will consist of 140 luxury condo units. There will also be 10,000 square feet of commercial space on the lower level, which will be home to a deli, sundry store and real estate office.
In addition, One Naples will also boast a 75 slip marina, which will have public access so boaters can take advantage of the deli and store.
The Opposition
As one could imagine, not every local resident is supportive of the immense development. A local group, named Save Vanderbilt Beach, took turns speaking at the county meeting. They laid out their concerns of additional traffic with no supporting infrastructure, as well as setting a “Miami Beach-like” precedent for the surrounding area.
Save Vanderbilt Beach has had a large part in the decision making process. While they were unable to entirely stop the development, they did successfully convince commissioners that the project needed to be scaled back. After laying out their arguments at past meetings, the developer agreed to the following changes:
- Reducing total residence number from 172 to 140.
- Reducing total number of boat slips from 99 to 75.
- Increasing parking setback from 15 feet to 25 feet.
- Decreasing mid-rise building height from 65 feet to 55 feet.
- Reducing high-rise height from 14 stories to 12 stories.
The groundbreaking for the development has not been scheduled yet.
