Ave Maria Communities in Naples, Florida

We recently took a ride on the west coast of Florida to the Naples area. On the “to do” list was a visit to a new Florida community that had been receiving some publicity due to its unique layout and hometown appeal. What a nice surprise!

Ave Maria is one of the newest residential communities in Florida. It is located about 10 miles east of Naples and is being developed by Tom Monaghan (the founder of Domino’s Pizza) and the Barron-Collier Company, a South Florida development company. It is the site of Ave Maria University and Law School which were founded and funded by Tom Monaghan. The university is the first new Catholic University to be founded in the United States in the last 40 years.

The Ave Maria community site is only about 10 years old but found to be very impressive on the recent visit.

An Exciting Overview of Ave Maria in Naples, Florida

The entrance road to the community is beautifully landscaped as is the whole site. The central square, La Piazza, is several miles in from the entrance. There are wide open fields (future home sites) on either side of the entrance road.

A complete build out will have 9000 units, but that is not imminent. As of 2010, only 400 units have been sold because of the real estate depression. Prices have fallen to very attractive levels in Ave Maria as they have elsewhere in Florida.

One realtor website currently lists 21 properties for sale in Ave Maria. They ranged from a 2BR/2Bath condo for $79,900 (there are even lower cost units!) to a 5BR home for $499,000. There seems to be something for every type of budget.

The Del Webb community at Ave Maria also has an 18-hole golf course in operation. Pulte Homes is a major builder at the site offering single family homes and town homes. Getting around is easy as golf carts are permitted (with some limitations). Learn more about registering a golf cart in Florida.

Substantial facilities are already in place and in operation for the university and more are planned. This unique, on site, accessible resource enhances the desirability of the community. A K-12 prep school is also open on site. Publix, the big Florida supermarket chain, also has a store in Ave Maria.

Ave Maria is well worth a visit if you are interested in a Southwest Florida retirement home.