NORTH NAPLES, Fla. — Luxury living and affordable housing might seem like opposite ideas — but a new apartment complex in North Naples is bringing them together under one roof.
Aspire Naples officially opened Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, introducing a new apartment complex in North Naples that combines upscale amenities with income-restricted rental options. The complex sits just off Immokalee Road in North Naples and includes 233 units — with about 30% of them reserved for workforce housing.
WATCH TO SEE GET AN INSIDE LOOK INTO ASPIRE NAPLES:
“We’re able to offer that to residents that are firefighters, policemen, school teachers, medical workers, county employees at rents that are more attainable than market rents,” said Gregg Fusaro, partner at CIG Communities, the developer behind the project.
The property features indoor lounges, a fully stocked mini market, modern finishes and amenities. But Aspire’s goal, developers say, is to serve a broader range of renters — especially those struggling to keep up with rising housing costs in Southwest Florida.
Collier County Housing Policy and Economic Development Director Cormac Giblin said the need for workforce housing is significant — and growing.
“Well, Collier County has several challenges when it comes to workforce housing,” Giblin said. “We find that over 50,000 people a day commute from Lee County to Collier County to come to work," he added.
Giblin said the county has increasingly embraced mixed-income developments like Aspire Naples — blending affordable housing into traditional apartment complexes — but admitted the approach takes time.
“In the past few years the board has approved several developments with this same mix, so we hope to see this as the beginning of a trend,” he said.
Despite the progress, Giblin emphasized that the number of units being built still falls short of what’s needed.
“But the need here in Collier County greatly surpasses all the approvals that have been done,” he said. “So the goal is to keep our foot on the pedal to make sure we stay on focus," he added.
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