Collier County Seeks Proposals for 6 Acres of Bayshore Development

Over six acres along Bayshore Drive have been opened for new construction, as Collier County seeks interested parties to bring housing, mixed-use, and community-focused development to the area bordering the new Bayshore Pedestrian Boardwalk.

The open parcels are part of a larger 17-acre plot of land, which opened to the public in February this year upon the completion of the long-awaited Bayshore Boardwalk, which serves as a connection between Bayshore Drive and Sugden Park.

The county is accepting proposals until the end of August, which will then be reviewed by the Community Redevelopment Agency, which manages the property. According to Michael McNees, Collier County’s Executive Director of Facilities & Redevelopment, who oversees the CRA, the boardwalk has subdivided the land into three parcels of varying sizes ーbeing nearly five, two, and seven-tenths of an acre respectively. The three parcels are open to proposals to develop them either collectively or individually.

“The redevelopment plan talks about a lot of different things. It's interested in connections to the arts, to the community, possibility for housing, possibility for mixed-use development,” McNees said.

“We've been very non-prescriptive about exactly what we're asking for so that people will make their best proposal on how they would like to acquire and how they would like to use that land.”

The collective value of the three plots averages to around $8 million, with the largest parcel being $4.4 million by itself. Though McNees said that what truly gave the land value was the new boardwalk connection, with native plants curated by Naples Botanical Garden and Natives of Corkscrew Nursery. Not only does it provide consistent foot traffic between Bayshore Drive and Sugden Park, he said, but the nature areas are one of the county’s assets.

“That boardwalk amenity, and I'm gonna go out on a limb a little bit, I think, is one of the nicest public facilities in all of Collier County. It's a beautiful walk. The Naples Botanical Garden did a fantastic job of raising and planting native vegetation all along the boardwalk, and it looks great,” said McNees.

“It has transformed what was essentially neglected property that was overrun by exotics and trash some years ago into a couple of beautiful development sites. So I think the boardwalk has been a game changer in the perception of the property and what it might be used for.”

McNees added that once submissions are closed and vetted by the procurement committee, a selection committee will review the proposals and rank them based on how well they meet the criteria of the CRA’s objectives and which would best benefit the community. After that, the committee will enter negotiations with the chosen proposers and draft contracts that will guide future development.

Optimistically, McNees said that the county should be able to decide what will become of the land by the end of the year, noting that officials wish to move expeditiously towards a future vision for the land.

What proposals have been put forward to the county aren’t yet known. “County staff are under a ‘cone of silence ’ and cannot discuss anything related to the solicitation throughout the solicitation and selection process,” said Stephanie Bowden, a county procurement strategist. The next CRA meeting, however, is scheduled for September 8 at 8:30 a.m. at Naples City Hall, after the proposal period has closed.

Despite that, Opera Naples is one party that has expressed very public interest in the property in the past. Referred to as the Theater in the Garden, Opera Naples and its partners with the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation have put forward a tentative plan with the three parcels at 4265 Bayshore Drive and the boardwalk in mind.

According to Opera Naples officials, the city is underserved in terms of available arts facilities comparable to its population, and their proposed facility will address the growing need. The tentative plans put forward a vision for a complex that would host a 900-seat auditorium, an outdoor amphitheater, open green space, an upscale restaurant, and a museum dedicated to Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

Last year, Opera Naples announced a seven-figure gift that had been secured for the purchase of land to build their arts center, which they estimate would cost upwards of $30 million. Opera Naples couldn’t immediately be reached for a request to comment as to whether they’d formally filed their proposal to the county since they’d opened applications in July.

“We believe we have tremendous momentum started as our partnership continues to blossom, and we can all dream together with Theater in the Garden about the artistic greatness we will achieve in the years to come,” said Nicoletta Pavarotti, president of the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation, in a press release about the project.