SUB S CRIBE TODAY F O R L O C A L S, BY L O C A L S
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N O V. 2 9 - D E C . 5 , 2024
3A | CHECK FIRST
2B | HOLIDAY FUN
3B | STARK REMINDER
beforehand is crucial
the happenings throughout Collier
reveals the tragedy of war and revenge
With charitable giving, careful vetting
Photographer’s exhibition ‘Oradour’
The holidays are here and we’ve got all
PHILANTHROPY
Tim Aten Knows Tim Aten
Immokalee Road land cleared for senior housing
NONPROFITS SURPRISED BY GIFTS FROM TOM GOLISANO
Q: What is being built just east of Logan Landings and west of the Saturnia Lakes community on Immokalee Road? They have taken down every tree in sight. Thanks for your great information! — Ann Cowen, Naples A: Land is being cleared on the south side of Immokalee Road east of Logan Boulevard for The Karlyn, a senior housing community with 159 market-rate apartment units. Minnesota-based Roers Companies is developing the three-story residential apartment building on 9 acres at 7576 Immokalee Road, adjacent to Saturnia Lakes gated residential community and Logan Landings retail center. Clearing of the property began in November, and construction probably will begin in early 2025. “We expect to go vertical first quarter at some point,” said Andy Bollig, a Roers development partner. “We’re expecting completion in April 2026.” The Karlyn will have a fitness center, yoga room, library and club dining room on the ground level within its 189,317-square-foot main building. Amenities will include a swimming pool, grilling stations and courtyards. The community will have a surface parking lot with 246 spaces, including more than 90 carport spaces, plans indicate. The apartment building will have 42 one-bedroom units, 38 one-bedroom units with a den, 61 two-bedroom units and 18 three-bedroom units. The size of the apartments
Tom Golisano, right, shakes the hand of a grant awardee at an event at Artis—Naples on Nov. 19. Golisano awarded dozens of nonprofit organizations in health, animal welfare and education a cumulative total of about $85 million at the event. Photo by Liz Gorman
By Therese McDevitt terry.mcdevitt@naplespress.com
In mid-November, the leaders of 41 Southwest Florida nonprofits received an email from the executive director of the Golisano Foundation inviting them to attend a special announcement the following Tuesday by entrepreneur and philanthropist Tom Golisano. More than 150 representatives from organi-
zations across five categories — health, education, intellectual and developmental disabilities, community and animal welfare — showed up at Artis—Naples on Nov. 19, still in the dark as to the nature of the announcement. Golisano didn’t keep them waiting for long, taking the podium to announce that he would be presenting $85 million in unrestricted gifts to the organizations represented, eliciting a collective gasp and loud applause from those assembled.
Golisano, who founded Paychex, the nation’s largest human resource company for small to medium-sized businesses, said at the event that he has been impressed with the dedication and innovation of the organizations that he has had the opportunity to work with in Florida. The distribution brought Golisano’s philanthropy this year to $500 million and See GOLISANO, Page 5A
See ATEN KNOWS, Page 8A
COUNTY CHANGES COURSE, SEES PUBLIC BENEFIT IN GARGIULO BID By Aisling Swift
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1 Collier’s Board of County Commissioners faced a dilemma this month: Selling property to the higher bidder, or to a free after-school program for migrant and poverty-level families for about half the $1.31 million bid. The program had been working with the county on the purchase for months. For years it’s had to limit programs because its current space nearby is too small.
But county staff recommended the higher bidder, John J. Gray, the multimillionaire owner of My Other Place luxury vehicle storJohn J. Gray age on Performance Way. He also owns property across the street, next to the county parcels, where he stores his model trains and antique cars. He wants to build more storage.
Gargiulo Education Center, a 24-year-old nonprofit which operates out of a dilapidated, 2,500-square-foot building on nearby Rail Head Boulevard in North Naples, had searched for years for land to expand its after-school program and community center for atrisk, latchkey and migrant students and poverty-level families. It serves 80 children, many of whom are the children or grandchildren of migrant farm workers who work for Gargiulo Inc., a produce company on Old 41. About 60 children are bused to the
center after school while their parents work in fields. “Storage is not for the community,” Mary Asta, the center’s executive director, said in an interview, calling the desire to expand a storage facility greedy. “It’s a man cave.” In February, the center submitted a letter of intent to purchase 16140 and 16044 Performance Way for $674,900, the county’s 2007 purchase price. Asta plans to partner with North Collier Fire & Rescue, See GARGIULO, Page 6A
THE WEATHER AUTHORITY Zach Maloch
Matt Devitt