Ave Maria looking like a home run

Barron Collier Cos. COO Brian Goguen, recently speaking before a crowd of Fort Myers-Naples area commercial real estate brokers and investors, referenced a classic baseball movie to describe the company’s strategy when it built the commercial town center before building any homes at Ave Maria, the 4,000-acre town under development 19 miles east of Interstate 75 in Collier County.

”It was total ‘Field of Dreams,’” said Goguen. “If you build it you hope they will come.”