In the Know: Stock plans new apartment community in North Naples

Q: Can you tell us what is happening with new clearing in the wooded lot on the southeast corner of Livingston and Veterans Memorial? We live in the Barrington Cove community, just behind the large wooded lot, and we have not had notice of what might be going in there — gas station, apartments, retirement home, all of the above? As you can imagine, we are concerned!

— Anne-Marie Cadwallader, North Naples

Q: I am a homeowner in Barrington Cove. I just noticed that there was a road cut into the forest off of Veterans Memorial Boulevard just west of our community. I was wondering if you could tell me what is going on there?

— Bill Arndt, North Naples

Q: See lot being cleared on the southeast corner of Livingston Road and Veterans Memorial Blvd. Rumor has it a gas station is going in there. Got any further info?

— Vincent Tormey, North Naples

A: The dirt road recently cut through the forest on that North Naples corner will enable access for soil borings needed to analyze the property in preparation for development.

A multifamily residential apartment community named Allura has been proposed to be built on the southeast corner of Veterans Memorial Boulevard and Livingston Road. Naples-based Stock Development is in the process of getting zoning approvals for the proposed project, so it’s not ready for prime time yet, said Keith Gelder, president of Stock Luxury Apartment Living.

Application plans submitted by Stock representatives to the Collier County Growth Management Department show Allura is proposed to have 336 units with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in six four-story buildings. In addition to conventional parking provided, 14 separate enclosed garages with six spaces each will be available to be independently leased.

“It will be nice. I can say that with confidence. It’s going to be a nice project,” Gelder said. “We are going to spend the money.”

Best known for developing Lely Resort, Stock is relatively new to the apartment business. The company recently created two other luxury apartment communities in the region. It developed and sold Spectra on U.S. 41 south of Alico Road in south Lee County, and has Inspira nearing completion at Lely Resort’s entrance at Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Grand Lely Drive in East Naples. Allura will have similar floor plans, exteriors and amenities, Gelder said.

“We are targeting the luxury apartment market,” he said. “It will be high-end with nice finishes, a beautiful clubhouse and high-end amenities. It will be nice — a high-end quality project in line with the Stock brand.”

Near Allura’s main entrance off Veterans Memorial Boulevard, two L-shaped buildings will flank a common area with a two-story, 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, a large swimming pool, a poolside covered lounge and cabanas. Other on-site amenities include two pickleball courts, two bocce ball courts, a tot lot, separate dog parks for big and small dogs, and an 8-foot wide concrete multiuse path encircling a 3-acre lake. Another entrance into the community will be on Livingston Road north of North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District’s Station 48.

Although the development includes nearly 36 acres, a substantial part of the property will not be built out.

“We are preserving more than a third of the property by not developing it,” Gelder said.

More than 15 acres of the property will remain wetlands or a preserve area. Non-native vegetation will be removed from the entire property, including the preserve areas, comprised mostly of cypress forest. Pine flatwoods cover most of the more than 20 acres that will be cleared, the site plan shows.

By the way, 2 acres of undeveloped commercial land for sale by AJS Realty Group on the hard corner of Veterans Memorial and Livingston are not part of Stock’s apartment project.

“There’s nothing going on there,” said Andrew Saluan, owner and managing broker of AJS Realty Group. “We’re kind of biding our time to let it mature a little bit.”

Zoned C-1 for professional and general offices or light retail, the corner lot possibly could be rezoned for a convenience store, Saluan said.

While Stock Luxury Apartment Living navigates the county permitting process for Allura, the first apartment building in Lely Resort’s Inspira received its certificate of occupancy, and the second one is expected to follow suit soon. The balance of Inspira’s residences and its clubhouse are expected to be online by the end of the year, Gelder said.

Stock Development also is pursuing a residential-commercial project off Corkscrew Road in Estero. Plans for Estero Crossing include 350 apartments and four outparcels, he said. The development proposes two freestanding outparcels and two inline buildings with 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of retail space adjacent to Lowe’s home improvement store in Estero Town Commons on the south side of Corkscrew, west of the Interstate 75 interchange.

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