Two highly-scrutinized redevelopment projects approved by Naples City Council in the past month are expected only to be the beginning of what’s described as an inevitable makeover to parts of Fifth Avenue South and other business corridors downtown.
Spurred by a booming real-estate market, investors are buying up swaths of property and builders are planning mixed-use projects that will add dozens of condominiums and thousands of square feet of retail space. There are plans to increase the number of residential units on Fifth by about 33 percent in the next two years, and other upcoming redevelopments would continue the trend.
One proposed project includes four new buildings, with a 51-room hotel and 57 condominiums on Fourth Avenue near Seventh and Eighth streets. Local developer Phil McCabe, who owns the property, calls the project a “game changer.”