Little bit of UK in new SWFL golf course. What Naples neighborhood is 5th priciest in US?
It's "progress" many of you are asking about, such as readers Fritz Metts and Steve Lee, both of Bonita Springs.
"There is large scale land clearing and other work going on at the undeveloped property across Vanderbilt Drive from where the five towers of Kalea Bay are located. Four towers have been built, and the fifth one will be started soon. This bulldozing of undeveloped land across the street is extending out from the northwest corner of Wiggins Pass Road on the north side, and the east side of Vanderbilt going for about a half mile," Lee said. "Dirt being hauled in. (Also,) there is too much traffic at the Wiggins Pass/Vanderbilt intersection and along both streets already."
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I first hit on the latest phase of this North Naples project in February, tied to those five towers and part of a gigantic footprint of 532 acres known as the Cocohatchee Bay Planned Unit Development that's larger than the nation of Monaco, where the cars and yachts are almost as fancy as ours in Naples. Well yours, anyway — didn't see many Toyotas on a previous trip to that region.
Now, there are more details for the area that stretches for close to 1.5 miles west from near the Tamiami Trail and Old 41 Road intersection to almost the Gulf of Mexico. The sandy shores are within view, at least from those perches 250 feet high.
Indeed, work has begun on an 18-hole, par-71 course known as Kinsale Golf Club, with an aim for winter 2024 completion by Detroit-based Soave Enterprises led by an owner who's no stranger to Naples.
Anthony Soave and his wife purchased a $6.3 million Bay Colony Drive penthouse nearly a quarter-century ago as he's constructed his Kalea series, Moraya Bay, The Dunes, Regatta, The Vanderbilt and multiple Pelican Bay mansions while amassing a fortune through ventures including beer distributorships, luxury auto dealerships and the oldest taxi cab company in The Motor City. Starting out as a construction contractor with a used truck, he eventually founded a waste-hauling firm he sold for $750 million in 1998, the year before buying his Naples condo.
Famed architect Gil Hanse and his partner Jim Wagner are leading the project, known for major restoration work on some of the world's most iconic courses including New York's Winged Foot Country Club, the host of a half-dozen U.S. Opens, and the Los Angeles Country Club, where the 2023 version of the 128-year-old event is slated for June.
So far, the pair has designed the first four holes, with the second being a doozy, inspired by what's considered the toughest in the sport, the 17th Road Hole at the 471-year-old Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, that Golf Magazine referred to as "diabolical" prior to the start of last July's Open Championship there.
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As high-rises converge, has Vanderbilt Drive become 'Highway to Hell?'
The difference is that you wouldn't have to hit your tee shot over a section of the Old Course Hotel, which does seem a bit reminiscent from my vast playing experience limited to miniature golf. Instead, the challenge of the 515-yard Par 5 is represented by a large lake that will run down the right side of the drive zone, according to Hanse.
And some residents, like Lee, wouldn't want a lodge stuck in there, as it is, to go with all those nearby condos as traffic mounts around the Wiggins Pass and Vanderbilt corner during what we used to call the cooler Florida snowbird months. About 600 units are targeted by the time the five towers sell out to buyers, such as Moody Blues bassist John Lodge, who also was part of a benefit concert there with, among others, AC/DC's Cliff Williams, YES frontman Jon Davison, singer Joe Best of the local Smokin' Aces and DefMedia Studios drummer Darrell Nutt.
It's not yet become the "Highway to Hell" that Nutt shared in a YouTube video of a performance from the event, and Soave's doing his part with a goal of limiting Kinsale to 250 members, who at least in the preliminarily plans, would pay $250,000 to acquire a membership, plus about $20,000 in annual dues not including taxes.
An impact study in Collier County public records estimates close to 3,000 daily trips eventually connected to his links and housing, which this year through March 14 had 95 sales for as much as $6.2 million, according to In the Know research of government documents.
When the county did a street count about a year ago, its findings showed a daily average of 14,204 vehicles on two-lane Vanderbilt, just north of Wiggins, and 10,214 on two-lane Wiggins, just east of Vandy.
During season in the late afternoon, northbounders have been known to back up, on occasion having to wait through multiple intersection red lights, especially when it becomes a rush hour detour after the predictable pileups on parallel U.S. 41.
The scheme also calls for the course to be open when there are the most motorists, early October through early June, with maintenance on tap for the summer while the 6,555 yards just sit there, going unused.
And then there's something else potentially in the works, on the southside of that junction across from 7-acre Cocohatchee River Park and its boat ramps drawing the multitudes. Many often find themselves sometimes lining their trailers along the roads due to the many boaters, like the crowds from this past weekend.
What's in play: 106 parking spaces on 3.5 acres, a large percentage for use by those mariners, surrounding a small undetermined commercial spot.
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What SWFL neighborhood's prices landed just behind Beverly Hills?
It's no secret that the Port Royal neighborhood in Naples is pretty darn expensive.
How pricey?
With a $22 million average price, it ranked fifth in the country for steepest home prices, just behind Beverly Hills on the West Coast, and ahead of California's Bel Air and New York's Southhampton Village, according to a new study Thursday.
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The top three: the beachside Palm Beach County community of Manalapan, Miami Beach's Palm Island and Snowmass, Colorado, which was 40% "cheaper" than No. 1's $39.8 million average, based on financial services company CashNetUSA's analysis of November Zillow listings.
Overall, Florida led the nation with four on the Top 10 list including Golden Beach near Miami at No. 6, and was one of only four states with California, New York and Colorado to have eight-figure neighborhoods. Forty had seven-figure locations, with Mississippi ranking 50th with Oxford's $592,879 average.
Billionaire wealth grew by $2.1 trillion during the pandemic, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. The concentration of wealth among the top 1% after the tax cuts near the end of last decade has led to frenzied bidding wars for lavish homes, and other investments that have driven prices up, out of the reach of many Americans, according to Fortune magazine and others studying the issue.
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The Island Cow is getting fatter in Sanibel Island rebuild project
Destroyed by an August 2022 inferno, The Island Cow is picking itself up and growing by 1,000 square feet after a rebuild project is completed in Spring 2024, according to builders, Stevens Construction.
The firm is constructing a 5,754-square-foot replacement with indoor and outdoor dining, and a commercial kitchen with a walk-in cooler and freezer.
To complement the Sanibel location, The Island Cow will feature Florida-style details such as a metal roof with a thatched roof entryway, outdoor tiki bar, indoor/outdoor bar and vibrant colors, said Daniel Adams, executive vice president of Stevens.
Leading the architectural work at 2163 Periwinkle Way is Southview Studios, with Haley Ward Inc. serving as the civil engineer.
The building is slated to begin in August, Adams said.
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Uline begins rolling today with 40,000 items in its 900,000 square feet
Uline Corp. officially opens its doors Monday, April 17, to its more than 900,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center, east of Collier Boulevard, near the county's Paradise Coast Sports Complex.
A leading U.S. distributor of shipping and packaging materials for businesses, it sits at 3830 Uline Drive, north of the sports complex, near Interstate 75, with 40,000 items stacked on its shelves and about 200 employees including 50 or so transferring from other Uline locations.
"We do have several years of growth built into this building," said Brad Heisner, Naples branch manager. "As our business grows, we plan to add more people."
A big need has been warehouse workers, who earn a starting salary of about $25 an hour, with more paid to the night shift that runs from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., he said. Available positions can be found at uline.jobs/florida.
Based at the Naples Daily News, Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com), writes In the Know as part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, which supplemented this report. Support Democracy and subscribe to a newspaper.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples neighborhood Port Royal ranks 5th on most expensive in US list
