- March 31, 2026
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Over its eight years in business in Southwest Florida, construction management and general contracting firm Curran Young Construction has built expertise in multifamily. As such, it understands the need for multifamily housing supply in the region — especially affordable options. And as an employer, it also has firsthand insight into the challenges local workers have finding housing they can afford, even when they make a decent salary.
So it made perfect sense for the firm to make a move into the affordable housing space. “We want to be a part of the solution,” says the Bonita Springs-based firm’s CEO, Chris Curran.
The company, with 45 employees and $135 million in revenue in 2025, currently has two major affordable housing projects in Southwest Florida set to start construction soon.
One is the Arwyn, a major redevelopment project in Fort Myers that will replace the former Horizon Apartments with 230 modern apartment homes. Curran Young is working in conjunction with the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers and its nonprofit development arm, the Southwest Florida Housing Foundation, as well as Tre-Bel Housing and Procida Companies, on that project, valued at $46 million. Plans there include three residential buildings and amenities like a dog park, community gardens, two covered pavilions, outdoor grilling areas and a 4,396-square-foot clubhouse.
Its second affordable housing project is the Reserve at Eastwood, a 288-unit, HUD-financed apartment complex being developed on 16.5 acres in Fort Myers. Amenities at the three-story affordable housing project, valued at $55 million, will include a swimming pool, pickleball court, playground, dog park, and 6,927-square-foot clubhouse.
There’s a huge need for affordable housing like this in Southwest Florida, and Curran Young’s experience building market-rate multifamily projects helps it address some of the challenges that come with constructing affordable units, executives say.
“There’s a big need for contractors that can work with design teams to get these projects designed in a way that they pencil out,” says Curran, 50. “Because with affordable and rent-reduced construction costs, it’s a tight budget. We know how to work with a design team to make sure that when they’re done with the drawing, they’ll yield a cost that actually fits into the model. We’ve been doing that with market-rate [apartments] the last few years and decided to pivot into affordable housing.”
Lessons learned from working on market-rate projects include knowing how to design the structure efficiently and how to purchase directly to get better buys on things like fixtures and hardware. “It really just comes with several years of building apartments,” says Curran.
And the firm knows it can build affordable housing that’s just as appealing as more expensive options. “There used to be this stereotype that the finished product is of a lesser quality or not as attractive as market-rate apartment projects, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” says Curran. “These buildings are built the same way as market rate — and in a lot of cases built better.”
Developers of affordable housing projects often get subsidies and access to programs like the federal government’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), state-level incentives like Florida’s State Apartment Incentive Loan program (SAIL) and community development block grants. They can be required to hold on to a project for 15 to 30 years.
“So they have a vested interest in making sure that the operating costs, the maintenance and the upkeep, is less,” says Curran. “We put in a lot of effort on the front end to make sure the hardware, fixtures and finishes are high quality and durable.”
Curran adds that if an average renter drove by both a market-rate and affordable apartment project done by the firm, they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Another lesson: utilize local government officials, who can often help affordable housing projects get going faster. “They want to do it for their constituents, for their residents, and because they’re bought in, it makes the projects so much easier on the front end,” says Curran. “Typically with a market-rate project, it takes years to get going because you don’t have the same backing from the government.”
In an ideal world, Curran wouldn’t be encouraging competition in this space. “But I know there is a huge gap, so we do need more contractors building these affordable housing units so folks have a place to live,” he says.
One of the biggest challenges, Curran says, is the paperwork that comes with the various government programming that often helps finance affordable housing projects. “That kind of scares general contractors away from it, but it’s really not a big deal,” he says. “And there are consultants out there that help with those compliance documents.”
Both Curran and his cofounder, Bruce Young, managed multimillion-dollar projects at some of the nation’s largest construction firms before starting their own company. But Curran Young’s smaller size means big benefits for clients.
“Clients are getting that pedigree and experience you only get with working with these big national firms,” says Curran. “But they’re getting it in a smaller package here, where you’re not paying for the overhead of a huge national company. They’re getting a lot more bang for their buck when they hire a firm like ours.”
Beyond affordable and multifamily, Curran Young has also done various country club, health care, hospitality and commercial projects. It recently completed the renovation and expansion of the Grey Oaks Country Club Golf Pro Shop and Wellness Café in Naples; a major enhancement program at Naples’ Kensington Golf & Country Club that upgraded facilities and added new amenities; and two major projects at South Seas on Captiva Island, the Beach House restaurant and water park Captiva Landing. And it just broke ground on Youth Haven’s new Therapeutic Enrichment Center in Naples.
Two keys to its model, regardless of sector: trust and transparency.
The company, says Curran, does “what we say we’re going to do. Which sounds obvious, but it can be hard to come by in our market. So if we say we’re going to be done on this date, that’s when we’re going to be done.”
