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Ave Maria plows ahead despite weak economy
LEXEY SWALL-BOBAY / Daily News
People line up for hot dogs along Annunciation Circle in front of the Oratory at Ave Maria in July 2007. The town is showing promise despite the nation’s troubled housing market.
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Ambition has met reality in the year since Ave Maria had its official opening in eastern Collier County.
One of the boldest projects in the history of Southwest Florida — to build a 5,000-acre town with a 6,000-student university on former rural tomato fields — has had the misfortune of arriving amid a severe local economic downturn.
The result is a development functioning well below initial projections in home sales and new businesses, but producing strong numbers in this market, according to a local real estate expert.
The Collier County Property Appraiser’s Office has recorded 295 residential deeds in the town from when the first homeowner arrived in May 2007 through last week.
Those figures are 13 percent of what the town’s development order had predicted when passed in 2005.
But they’re good enough to be considered a success, said Shelton Weeks, director of Florida Gulf Coast University’s Lucas Institute for Real Estate Development and Finance.
“Given how bad things have been locally and nationally and what’s going on in the mortgage market, it’s impressive or at the least respectable,” Weeks said of the town’s sales.
Blake Gable, a vice president at town co-developer Barron Collier Cos., said town founders adjusted their plans as market conditions became clear.
“I think everyone involved in the project lowered their expectations to match the reality,” Gable said.
Home sales, he added, weren’t the primary concern in the first year.
“It really isn’t something that we’re spending a lot of time talking about,” he said. “We set out to establish a foundation for a town that’s going to be around for hundreds of years. When you plan out for 11,000 residences, you know it’s something that’s not going to happen overnight.”
The self-sufficiency that Ave Maria’s developers touted hasn’t happened overnight, either.
The first year has brought a staffed fire and emergency medical services facility, a popular coffee shop and an urgent care medical clinic.
It hasn’t brought a supermarket, second restaurant, gas station or bank.
In February, Publix announced formal plans to build a supermarket in the town. A company spokeswoman said the 28,000-square-foot store, which will have a pharmacy, is scheduled for completion in “early 2009.”
Gable said a Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchise will become the town’s second restaurant within the next two months.
Time frames on a gas station and bank opening are less clear.
A gas station and convenience store has broken ground, operated by Red Rabbit, a company based outside St. Petersburg. Franchise owners couldn’t be reached for comment.
Immokalee-based Florida Community Bank had originally hoped to move its headquarters and open a branch in Ave Maria last June. But state regulators have yet to give the bank approval to open its doors in town, according to Florida Community Bank President Stephen Price and officials with the state’s office of financial regulation.
Many residents moving into the town last summer called themselves “pioneers” and cited attraction to the town’s Catholic appeal — even as developers repeatedly emphasized it shouldn’t be considered a “Catholic town” — as reasons for coming to Ave Maria before certain amenities were in place.
That allure is the main reason why comparing the town’s development to others locally and around the state is difficult, said Weeks, the real estate professor.
The year’s biggest news in Ave Maria was the March dedication of its landmark 100-foot Catholic church, Ave Maria Oratory by Diocese of Venice Bishop Frank Dewane. Visitors and tourists have come from across the country to see it and the town up close.
“There’s this whole cultural thing there that’s really very different,” Weeks said. “The sample is of one.”
But those residents who have taken the plunge said they were hoping for more neighbors and more businesses more quickly.
Warren Mass, a 60-year-old writer for a conservative magazine, moved with his wife Martha, a retired federal government employee, to Ave Maria from the Florida Panhandle in late August.
Mass and his wife are Catholic and they’ve been pleased with the development. They’re waiting for more retirees in town.
“I keep telling my wife, ‘Your best friend hasn’t even moved in yet,’” Mass said.
After 11 months, they’ve decided Ave Maria is where they want to put down their roots.
“I plan to stay here my whole life,” Mass said.
Others are less sure.
Brian Aabel, 42, moved in mid-September with his wife, Marta, 39, and three kids. They came from Arizona where they lived in a development by Pulte Homes, also Ave Maria’s residential builder.
Aabel called his family “probably the only non-Catholics here.” He’s had trouble fitting in with the rest of the community.
“I’m accepted by some people, but others look the other way,” said Aabel, who runs a computer software company from home.
He was also hoping for more town amenities and options for family entertainment, especially in the summer months with Ave Maria University’s classes out and his children on vacation. He added the family was “weighing its options” on staying.
“It’s not up to expectations, but it’s not anybody’s fault,” he said. “The real estate market is bad.”
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Hey Liam. How about adjusting the 295 deeds to account for the many that Ave Maria University bought itself? Now, how good is this development doing?
#1 Posted by kysaberinger on July 20, 2008 at 9:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank-God for a fortuitus real estate slump Ave Maria's promoters can point to instead of acknowledging the dramatic decline of Catholicism due to the irrational Papal edicts on birth control; celibacy for an exclusively male priesthood; abortion, and the shielding of sexual deviants within the church ranks resulting in financial settlements that have bankrupt numerous Dioceses.
North America and Europe are dismissing Catholicism. Perhaps Ave Maria should consider relocating to French West Africa which is the religion's only growth region..
#2 Posted by Naplestango on July 20, 2008 at 10:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
kysaberinger...
While you have a small point, remember these so-called "bought deeds" are building dreams for many first time home buyers who work at Ave Maria, too.
Do you honestly think they could afford the Naples price of a home for a large family in Naples?
Maybe they could if they worked two or three jobs...but Ave Maria is the missing link for these families.
For many, it's a downright dream come true.
They WALK TO WORK and walk kids to school there.
Now Publix will offer another dream in saving gas money instead of driving to Naples to shop.
#3 Posted by beetlejuice on July 20, 2008 at 11:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
bjuice said:
"While you have a small point, remember these so-called "bought deeds" are building dreams for many first time home buyers who work at Ave Maria, too."
Haha. Yeah, if there is such a large number of first time buyers, then why were the Ave Maria developers the first in our state to ask for a change to their affordable housing income requirement, up $30,000? Back in May, Naples Daily News reported that 32 of the then 36 sales in the affordable Middlebrooke area were sold to AMU.
The July 17 NDN said "All areas covered by the (Naples Area Board of Realtors) report, except Immokalee and Ave Maria, saw an increase in pending sales in June. "
The June 13 NDN quoted a Century 21 realtor who said that people working in Ave Maria don't want to live out there - "His office is seeing a lot of activity at the “very high end” and in eastern Collier County, particularly in Golden Gate Estates. "A lot of activity is coming from Ave Maria, from people who work out there and they don’t want to live at Ave Maria,” Hummel said.
AMU might be increasing its student class size, but that won't increase home sales. There is no indication that enrollment was followed by an increase in new professors. The Law School's decision to go to Naples, rather than the Town, was a huge loss in home sales and higher-end graduate student rentals.
Tom Monaghan was supposed to bring in the wealthy Catholic conservatives from all over the country to buy houses. The fact is, Monaghan didn't deliver. The Colliers played him like a yankee bumpkin, using him to get their road eastward. Blake Gabel said last month "Without Oil Well Road there is no Ave Maria."
Sorry, but this latest article by NDN is a puff piece.
#4 Posted by kysaberinger on July 21, 2008 at 1:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Pope Meets Australian Abuse Victims
Monday July 21, 2008
www.nytimes.com
#5 Posted by bicoastal on July 21, 2008 at 6:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Aabel, never fear...other non-Catholics live here. We are choosing to stay for now because our son is about to start high school and we don't want to move him in the middle of that. We also have very stable jobs and the community is the safest I am aware of. We make a lot of use of the miles of sidewalks for running and walking, etc. We enjoy the water park. If they ever manage to build the gas station and finish Publix I will find it difficult to leave.
I think the church should try a tie in with the casino. They could tie their brands together and encourage gamblers to come by the church first and get a blessing(for a small donation) before they go to the casino and spend their paycheck.
There is no denying the town is more vibrant when the students are here, but it ain't that much more vibrant. A lot of the students look like extras from the Harrison Ford movie, Witness. They would fit in on one of those mormon compounds in Texas. I remember looking forward to springtime at my beloved alma mater when all the coeds would start traipsing around in their shorty shorts. Here you hope the winter stretches to June(I am just being mean, they aren't quite that bad. At least mom and dad don't have to worry about too much fornicatin').
#6 Posted by avemariadawg on July 21, 2008 at 7:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
By the way...the law school hasn't moved out here yet because the building hasn't been built and they already had an existing building in Naples they could use in the meantime to allow some flexibility.
If you want to make fun of something then get your facts straight. Make fun of the fact that a lot of students don't pay a dime of tuition and most receive a ton of financial aid. There has to be a trade off to convince healthy hormonal young adults to spend what could be the four most care free and fun years of their life in a town where birth control is verboten and you are required to live on campus. You can't tell me the kids at Notre Dame don't party hardy. The university should model their partying and athletics after Notre Dame.
A lot of students are future priests and nuns. Can you imagine? 18 years old and you want to commit to a lifetime of "celibacy"(evidently lesbianism and pedophilia don't count against the celibacy requirement). Where is George Carlin(may he rest in peace) when we need him?
I like the town and my neighbors and I even like the fact that there are so few residents. I will be much happier when the Publix is built, but even then I will still shop for veggies at the farmer's market in Immokalee. Living in a self righteous town has a lot of benefits. I don't participate in a lot of the frowned upon activities anyway and when you do decide to live it up it makes your sinning that much sweeter.
#7 Posted by avemariadawg on July 21, 2008 at 7:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
well, Sunday I was out to Imokolee on business and took the 2.5 mile trip off the highway to Ave Marie...
I'd have to say it was weird...from the highway the church looked like a small nuclear reactor..as I neared the bldg. the backside appeared like an octopus with legs dangling down..my first impression was Ave Maria is more like a Hollywood movie set than a real town..I parked and stepped out of my vehicle. Now I lived in Phoenix 10 years and I was stunned by the heat and humidity. It was 3pm and I headed across the red bricks (ground temp must have been 130 and air temp 110)..I live in Naples and I don't know how with the the concrete saturation of the church, red brick, loop street and bldgs, anyone could stand to be there in summer. The bldg. surrounded by shops and the visitor center was a very bizarre setting; the welding of commerce and religion was a heretofore juxtaposition I've not observed anywhere.
I saw a priest in full black long sleeved and full length garb pass me as I went into the church. You have to give the guy credit for dedication and I hope he doesn't get heat stroke. I was as strange as the outside. It was like being Jonah in the Whale. The trusses filled the ceiling like a whales ribs. It was a creepy feeling inside.
I drove around the small loop once more and saw two young couples walking (one was quite the hottie, the other stumbled along in heels she couldn't control) They looked young, zestful, a bit like Stepford youth, and sweaty.
It seemed clear why the population is 87% off target. Only a true zealot would subject themselves to this environmental climate abuse, from many standpoints.
I felt sorry for those who bought houses there as I drove towards the exit road. The housing developement looked hot, lonely, and divorced from the nuclear whale and ghost town business district.
RIP Ave Maria...
#8 Posted by prometheus on July 21, 2008 at 11:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We drove the *long* drive out to Ave Maria on Saturday (open house). And personally, I don't get the attraction. I agree with the previous poster - it was hotter than Hades (heehee) out there. The bugs were everywhere. There really was no unique design to the homes. They were very cookie cutter - all the same. The town homes looked like barracks.
But what I really want to ask is.....and please help me with this.... Why did so many lose their homes and property to SW Fla Mgmt and then here's this huge community built right in the middle of the wetlands? How is this different? I have friends that had a huge camp in Picayune Strand that's been in their family for generations. One day there was No Trespassing signs up. I don't get it.
#9 Posted by Debalou on July 21, 2008 at 11:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
DID SOMEONE JUST WRITE ABOUT SHORTYSHORTS ? I FEEL ALIVE AGAIN ! DONT FEEL SORRY FOR THE PRIESTS JUST BECAUSE THEY GET NUN. LOVE THAT SONG AVE MARIA THOUGH.
#10 Posted by STONECRAB on July 21, 2008 at noon (Suggest removal)
From "Dogma" with George Carlin as Cardinal Glick:
----------------------------------
Cardinal Glick: Fill them pews, people, that's the key. Grab the little ones as well. Hook 'em while they're young.
Rufus: Kind of like the tobacco industry?
Cardinal Glick: Christ, if only we had their numbers.
----------------------------------------
Rufus: I'm telling you, man, this ceremony is a big mistake.
Cardinal Glick: The Catholic Church does not make mistakes.
Rufus: Please. What about the Church's silent consent to the slave trade?
Bethany: And its platform of noninvolvement during the Holocaust?
Cardinal Glick: All right, mistakes were made.
#11 Posted by bicoastal on July 21, 2008 at 12:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Debalou...isn't it always about big money and political money power?
Stonecrab, agreed, Ave Maria is a beautiful song...love it played on a solo violin like Josh Bell
If soaring gliders can make it to Ave Marie from Immokolee Airport they'll find a thermal they can ride all day.
Avemariadawy..."A lot of the students look like extras from the Harrison Ford movie, Witness. They would fit in on one of those mormon compounds in Texas"....of the few I saw, I agree...it's interesting that all the various fringe religious types, whether Mormon, Extreem Catholic, Fundamentalist Baptist, Jehovah Witness etc. etc. all have that same semi-dazed, eternal joy, self induced seritonin transfixed face. It seem that any of the various coping fantasies offfered by these man made religions do have a drug like effect on the brain; an absolute which can't be disproven, since all these beliefs use negative proof, e.g. "X is true because there is no proof X is false", which of course is the antithesis of how Science operates. In the religious arena any tale can float on air.
I grew up 2 miles from Notre Dame and Notre Dame is an extreemly liberal campus whereas Ave is IMO a cult in the swamp...I wonder how Tom got Publix to give it a try?
Here's a parody verse of the Notre Dame fight song that was quite popular, maybe still is
Beer beer for ol' Notre Dame
You bring the whisky I'll bring the dames
Send the freshmen out for gin
Don't let a sober senior in
We never falter we never fall
We fire up on straight alcohol
While the loyal faculty
Lie drunk on the bar room floor
maybe one day the Ave Marie chapel will be the site of non-summer secular concerts featuring international stars, surrounded by currio shops...hmmmm, probably not, just too far from the population centers...probably better as a fundamentalist cult site...
#12 Posted by prometheus on July 21, 2008 at 12:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm just glad this cult is way out there in the swamp where we can keep em away from the kids. Let's just hope they don't put a boys ranch nearby.
Is there any surprise that the dough for this place comes from feeding the masses crap food,ie Domino's pizza.
#13 Posted by Vegatox on July 21, 2008 at 1:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Non-summer secular concerts for the early aged baby boomers:
Headliners: AC/DC
Anthem: Highway to Hell!
#14 Posted by bicoastal on July 21, 2008 at 1:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
mt348 "a waco town with a bunch of loonies?" i'm certainly no loonie and i'm not Catholic. ok so the church isn't gorgeous on the outisde but what's inside matters to some people that live here. why so angry anyway?
#15 Posted by GOPman on July 21, 2008 at 4:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
re post #18...they all have to post their anti Catholic rhetoric because they are afraid the path they have taken is not correct and they post insults to prove they are right....especially bicoastal who posts anti Catholic blasphemy even if the subject is not religion.......they are really to be pitied because they go through life so unsure of themselves and with such hate in their hearts
#16 Posted by Canuck on July 21, 2008 at 5:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
bicostal...LOL
it's interesting to note how a person like Danny Thomas starts a charity like St. Judes Childrens Hospital (the charity that get most of my charity dollars) and all the good that comes from it, and how an egomaniac like Tom puts his money (made from selling cheap sugar and air pizza to dummies) into errecting a cult compound...maybe its ironic that the oil barrons are in the process of putting the final nails in the coffin of the pizza barron...
IMO Ave Maria will only last as long as Tom can pay students and employees to join him in the swamp..by the way does he live there??? I have a friend who worked out there and said they were cultish but cordial. He quit after a year because of the long drive, and that was prior to gas prices going bonkers
Canuck...my objection to Ave Maria is its Theocratic and cultish nature, just as I object to all the extremist fundamentalist strains that exist in almost all religions...it is the insecure like Tom who are drawn to the appeal of the fundamentalist religion mindset; certainly not the mindset of a Danny Thomas or a Father Hesburg...it is the theocratic nature of fundamentalists that make them dangerous in a free society whether they be Jim Jones, Bob Jones University, Colorado City, David Koresh, or the Salem Mass Christians. Whether the extreemists be Jew, Christian, or Muslim, they are the insecure who desire a religious society and religious law; the soul of the Dark Ages...
America is a secular society with only secular laws, and may we always be so...
#17 Posted by prometheus on July 21, 2008 at 7:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
prometheus......when did the town of Ave Maria impose their beliefs on anyone......and to call it a cult is laughable...people will go there or they won't of their own free will and if they don't it will fail... and what Monahan does with his money is his business.......what is so different than Notre Dame University that has been so successful?
and doesn't your money still say
"in God we trust"
#18 Posted by Canuck on July 21, 2008 at 7:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In 1956, the nation was suffering through the height of the cold war, and the McCarthy communist witch hunt.
Partly in reaction to these factors, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution to replace the existing motto with "In God we Trust."
The president signed the resolution into law on 1956-JUL-30. The change was partly motivated by a desire to differentiate between communism, which promotes Atheism, and Western capitalistic democracies, which were at least nominally Christian. The phrase "Atheistic Communists" has been repeated so many times that the public has linked Atheism with communism; the two are often considered synonymous. Many consider Atheism as unpatriotic and un-American as is communism. The new motto was first used on paper money in 1957, when it was added to the one-dollar silver certificate. By 1966, "In God we Trust" was added to all paper money, from $1 to $100 denominations. 3
During the 1950's the federal government's references to God multiplied:
The phrase "under God" was added to the otherwise secular Pledge of Allegiance.
"So help me God" was added as a suffix to the oaths of office for federal justices and judges.
However, they are not compelled to recite the words. There has been a widespread belief that every president since George Washington has said these words during his inauguration. The belief appears to be without merit.
American paper currency since 1957 has included the motto "In God We Trust."
No other country in the world which has a religious motto on their money.
However, it appears that:
The Dutch have had a religious motto on their money for over a century (one source says since the 18th century; an other says since 1816 CE).
Coins carry the motto "God zij met ons." ("God is with us."). This motto has been carried over into the Netherlands version of the new 2 euro coin.
During the 1980's, former president Jose Sarney introduced into Brazilian paper money the phrase "Deus seja louvado" ("God be praised.")
Although not a motto, many British coins contain a drawing of the queen identified as "Elizabeth II D.G. REG. F.D." This is an abbreviation of a Latin phrase which means "Elizabeth II by Grace of God Defender of the Faith." In Britain, the monarch is the head of the Church of England. Canadian coins carry the phrase "Elizabeth II D.G. Regina." She is the queen of Canada but is not the "Defender of the Faith," because Canada does not have a state religion for her to defend.
www.religioustolerance.org
#19 Posted by bicoastal on July 21, 2008 at 8:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
AC/DC - Highway To Hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsDpzn...
#20 Posted by bicoastal on July 21, 2008 at 8:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
re post #22........we don't have a "state" religion but we have God in our charter of rights:
"The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the introductory sentence (preamble) to the Constitution of Canada's Charter of Rights and Constitution Act, 1982. The principles it invokes are the "supremacy of God" and the "rule of law."
In full, it reads,
“ Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God "
source: Wikpedia
#21 Posted by Canuck on July 21, 2008 at 8:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
sorry......full preamble sentence should read:
"Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law"
#22 Posted by Canuck on July 21, 2008 at 9:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ils sont tous fou!
#23 Posted by Naplestango on July 21, 2008 at 9:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Canuck...."what is so different than Notre Dame University that has been so successful?"
good question: Notre Dame, a liberal Catholic University vs Ave Maria, a Fundamentalist Catholic University
Ave Maria has already recieved more criticism for its extreemist theology and compound like set up than Notre Dame has in is long and honorable history
in God we trust is on the currency but people still only accept the currency :)
I think the real quote is "in God we trust, all others strictly cash"
cults can be viewed on a continuum, as to how extreem they are and how much control they exercise over the adherents...I consider the Baptists also a cult (I was raised one) yet I don't consider Episcopalian cultish. I've met a number of Ave Maria students and find them cultish in the same way most people find Jehovah Witnesses and Mormans cultish...I've met hundreds of Notre Dame students and never came across a cultish ie fundamentalist type one, but there probably have been a few...
at a time when the Catholic church is shrinking and its members refuse to obey its absurd edicts Ave Marie IMO is doomed to failure; even most Catholics are too enlighted today to get sucked into Tom's tomato patch and swamp compound...Notre Dame, Georgetown, Fordham, Loyola, Xavier, DePaul oooops Ave Maria somehow Ave just don't fit with the group, and it ain't the size its the concept; fundamentalist Catholic school
I doubt if it was taken over by liberal Catholic ownership if it could be saved, as the location is so undesireable, but I can hope..I can't believe a Cardinal or Bishop approved the church structure, in a way it also looks llike a pizza oven with a peak, and the red bricks are hot enough to bake a pie on..
the strange looking central church bldg. with an octopus on one end and whale ribs in the ceiling, surrounded by a loop of shops, and Stepford homes in the distance to me tell the story of megalomania gone amiss...perhaps a Domino Pizza in every other shop would be appropiate..Ave Maria IMO is an ego trip gone sour....
again put a Danny Thomas next to a Tom and its a bizarre juxtapositon...maybe when its all played out Ave can be conveted into affordable housing for the poor and migrant workers of Immokolee
wonder if Tom ever heard of location, location, location
#24 Posted by prometheus on July 22, 2008 at 1:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
what you call fundamentalist is what most Catholics would call teaching the tenents of the faith.....I disagree that Notre Dame is a "liberal" Catholic university
Catholics all over north America are moving away from the "cafeteria" style Catholicism and coming back to basic....i.e. th popularity of the renewed latin mass
#25 Posted by Canuck on July 22, 2008 at 2:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Cultish? I fail to see how anyone can apply that term to a community that is no more "cultish" than was Hackensack, New Jersey, circa 1956, when I was living there. The Catholic Church was much more "fundamentalist" (if some insist on using that term) back then, than Ave Maria Oratory parish is today. The parish offers three different Masses (Novus Ordo English, Novus Ordo Latin, and Tridentine Latin) to accommodate all faithful Catholics. Ave Maria University is in the proud company of faithful Catholic colleges like Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH; Christendom College of Front Royal, VA, Magdellan College in Warner, NH, and Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA, to name a few. What is the difference between these and the more famous so-called Catholic colleges? For one thing, AMU would not tolerate a borderline heretical "theologian" like the infamous dissident, Fr. Richard McBrien. And if the great Cardinal Francis Arinze spoke at AMU, much of the faculty would not walk out during his speech, like the dissident "Catholic" professors at Georgetown did!
#26 Posted by warrenmass on July 24, 2008 at 2:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So far I like living in Ave Maria. My house is beautiful, it was affordable, and my neighbors are all tolerable. We look out for each other and our kids. I am just grateful I can be a part of a great community, whether you call it a "Catholic" town or not, it's a good place to be. But now that's all my opinion and I wouldn't force it upon anyone. It's been six months since we moved here and I would say we made the right decision. The heat and bugs in AM sure beats the heat, taxes, and traffic of the cities we lived in up north.
#27 Posted by spitz11 on July 25, 2008 at 5:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I, along with my wonderful neighbors, couldn’t be any happier. We’re in on the ground floor of an amazing place to be. My neighborhood is well diversified, yet we are all the same…..wonderful neighbors. If that is what you are looking for, this is the place to be. Think about it. Really! There is something for everyone here, no matter what your nationality, creed or religion. If you are considering a move to a new home in the Naples area, do what we did, what you should always do when looking for a new home. Take a ride through and ask questions. PS.. The builder, Pulte Homes, Inc., (NYSE: PHM) is a FORTUNE 200 company. Our home and setting is beautiful.
#28 Posted by JackieF on September 19, 2008 at 12:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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