Naples Live Local workforce housing community finished

Aspire Naples, a Live Local Act project in Collier County, has been completed, and residents will begin moving in in the coming weeks.

The 223-unit apartment complex was developed by CIG Communities and is located on Immokalee Road just east of Livingston Road in North Naples.

CIG, which began construction in 2023, says 30% of the units (71) will be leased at or below market rate to qualified residents who live and work in Collier.

To qualify, Aspire says on its website, an applicant must earn at or below 80% to 100% of the area median income and that at least one member of the household must be employed by the county. “Residents who are considered to be Essential Services Personnel are provided first access to units” under the Live Local provisions.

The Live Local Act is a bipartisan affordable housing plan approved by the Florida’s Legislature in 2023. It was aimed at increasing the availability of housing.

Shortly after CIG broke ground on Aspire in 2023, Gregg Fusaro, principal for the Cincinnati development firm, said the project wouldn’t have been possible without a tax abatement provision in the law.

Fusaro, in an interview with the Business Observer at the time, said when it first underwrote the deal sometime around 2021 the interest rate was 5% and the property insurance was $600 per unit.

By the time construction was set to begin two years later, things had changed dramatically. As it approached closing and the start of work the interest rate had jumped to almost 8% and the cost of insurance had doubled to $1,600 per unit.

Fusaro said CIG was faced with absorbing the cost or pulling out.

But increasing the number of units available at below market rate to 71 allowed it to qualify for the abatement through Live Local making the projecte economically feasible. (The company, he said, was already planning on 70 affordable units in the community.)

Aspire’s units come with 9-foot ceilings and gourmet kitchens along with an amenities package that includes a coffee bar, conference rooms and co-workspace and a rooftop lounge.