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A glimpse of things to come
August 25, 2006
As new and returning students arrived at Ave Maria University's interim campus in Naples for the start of the fall semester, members of the local media got their first glimpse of recent developments at the site of AMU's permanent campus and the town of Ave Maria, Fla. Aug. 24.
The 100-foot-high steel arches of the Ave Maria Oratory, six miles of completed roadways and a water and sewer utility plant weeks away from completion were just a few highlights of a construction site tour led by Don Schrotenboer, project manager for the university's permanent campus, and Blake Gable, Barron Collier Companies' project manager for the development of the town.
"We've been making tremendous progress out here, particularly in the last several months," Schrotenboer said. "Seven university buildings are currently under construction, and we expect to open the permanent campus to students as planned in the fall of 2007."
Less than one year after the beginning of vertical construction in November 2005, 48 percent of all site work and utilities for Phase I of the permanent campus has been completed. This first stage of campus development includes the university library, the student activity center, the science, math and technology building, three student residence buildings, and the oratory.
In addition to the dramatic developments in the construction of university buildings, Schrotenboer also discussed plans for the construction of a K-12 school in the town.
"To date, pre-construction services for the school are 89 percent complete," Schrotenboer said. "The plan is to break ground next week and open the school to students in fall 2007."
The construction of seven buildings in the Ave Maria, Fla. town center is also proceeding on-schedule, Gable said. The town center, called La Piazza, will include 100,000 square feet of retail and office space on the first and second floors of the buildings as well as 70 condominiums on the third floors.
Gable also said that plans for as many as six more buildings were already underway, including space for both an NCH medical facility and a Florida Community Bank headquarters.
"We are excited about where we are right now," Gable said. "We think of this as an opportunity to change the face of Collier County for the better."