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workforce housing as a means of accommodating and supporting essential workers who keep their community running but were quickly being priced out of the market. They opened up an RFP process in late 2019, with McDowell being selected from a competitive field of 10 respondents to develop the 3.78-acre county-owned parcel. McDowell entered a 99-year land lease with the County where they committed to develop the property for families earning at or below 80% of the County’s area median income, amongst several other design and operational commitments that specifically fulfilled the municipalities’ needs and desires. McDowell, one of Florida’s most productive workforce and affordable housing developers, quickly secured competitive gap financing and housing tax credits from Florida Housing Finance Corporation that
were essential to sufficiently source $25.4 million development.
There are, of course, various reasons why certain developments may not suit the needs or lifestyles of those who call the community home. However, it seems that affordable housing developments have routinely fallen victim to these disagreements in Collier County. Thankfully, as The Harmony proves, the pitfalls of this clash of interests can be minimized or entirely avoided by working in tandem with local governments who understand the holistic needs of a community. “The process of creating low- income housing is always one of collaboration, but the Harmony exemplifies the public-private partnership that helps create so many transformative developments,” Boyle said. Read more Property Impact Stories Online >>>
CREA’s Mike Boyle, SVP, Acquisitions has seen firsthand the time and effort that has been put into making an affordable development in the affluent Naples market. For many years, it was a running conversation for Boyle and Shear that such a housing development would be near impossible to bring to fruition in the area. Some have been steadfast in their opposition to new developments in the area for years, something that the local Naples Daily News noted in their article, “Got Nimby?” in 2006. The article quotes the then-president of Habitat for Humanity of Collier County as saying, “NIMBY (Not In My Backyard)-ism […] is keeping Collier County from resolving an affordable housing crisis.”
Chris Shear, COO at McDowell, has put in years of effort to secure an affordable housing deal in the area despite some roadblocks along the way.
An overhead shot of the Harmony on Santa Barbara development site in Naples, FL.
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