Naples design board OKs 'Renaissance' project

Renaissance Village, a roughly $500 million residential and retail development, moved one step closer to construction Wednesday after the Naples Design Review Board unanimously approved its final design plans.

The 21.17-acre project, which will replace Grand Central Station at 300 South Goodlette-Frank Road and be similar to Fifth Avenue South, goes before the Planning Advisory Board in August. Construction is expected to begin in October and be completed in two years.

Once completed, Renaissance Village will be linked to Naples’ trendy downtown retail district through the redesign of Four Corners, where U.S. 41 meets Fifth Avenue South. It also will be connected to the Bayfront condominium and retail center across Goodlette-Frank Road because both will share a traffic light and some architectural features. Third Avenue South also will be a public right of way into the development.

“Reconnecting Third Avenue South is what’s going to give this vitality,” DRB member Jonathan Kukk said.

The DRB approved of the project, which went well beyond the city’s demand for landscaping, and voted 4-0 to give it the go-ahead. “We jointly believe it will be an asset to the city,” DRB chairman Frank Duane said before the vote.

After the meeting, architect Matthew Kragh of Architectural Network Inc. said developer Jack Antaramian had put up eight buildings on Fifth Avenue and this would draw from that architecture.

“We know the buildings around it so we tried to build a development that has its own architectural flow, but will be sensitive to coincide with the context around it,” Kragh said. “We wanted it to blend in with Bayfront because that’s across the street.”

Designs for Renaissance Village, approved Wednesday, include plans for “green” architecture, such as rooftop gardens, as seen in this artist’s rendering of the $500 million project.

The hearing Wednesday involved only minor adjustments to the plan, which calls for 288 residential units and 37,000 square feet of commercial and retail shops. So far, Starbucks and Cold Stone Creamery have committed to the project, although the ice cream shop has yet to sign a contract. Troy Rush, the project’s developer said there also will be a mix of upscale and casual restaurants, including an Italian restaurant, boutiques, and other commercial tenants. In the future, he said, there could be up to 100,000 square feet of commercial and retail development.

Although it wasn’t the main intent, the project will have a “green” environmental component — rooftop gardens and fountains that reduce energy costs and cool the condos. “It’s almost like a golf course up there,” Kragh said. “It basically reflects the heat and the plants absorb the oxygen.”

Residents who look out over the parking garage won’t see a rooftop, he said, but undulating hills, fountains and a common area with a pool. All residents will have gardens, while some also will have fountains. 

According to an article in Environmental Health Perspectives, the peer-reviewed journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, plants cool the air when water is emitted from leaves and evaporates into the air. They help shade the soil surface, reducing heat buildup in the rooftop below and absorb rainwater. They also absorb air pollutants such as carbon monoxide and provide thermal insulation.

In Chicago, where rooftop gardens and light-colored roofs were part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, city officials found air atop city hall’s garden was 15 to 20 degrees cooler than air on a neighboring tar roof, the article says. Canada’s federal National Research Council reached a similar conclusion, the article said, finding that its rooftop garden reduced the heat entering the building through the roof by up to 85 percent on summer days.

Antaramian acquired the majority of Renaissance Village’s property from NCH Healthcare System. Fifth Avenue South will be its southern boundary, where Florida Gulf Coast University will build Renaissance Academy, the continuing education program currently on Fifth Avenue South. FGCU also hired Architectural Network to design the school and a 350-seat theater.

Antaramian has called Renaissance Village the last phase of Naples Bay Resort and Marina and Sandpiper condominiums. The resort is a mix of homes, four-star hotel accommodations, a marina, upscale dining and shopping. Renaissance Village residents will be able to walk to Naples Bay Resort and use the fitness center there. The village, which will feature archways, lush landscaping and fountains, will be similar to Fifth Avenue South. Architecturally, the design will mirror the Bank of America building at 780 Fifth Ave. S.

Trash will be hidden from public view, with residents tossing garbage down chutes, where they will land in trolleys that take garbage to another area.

Richard Tindel, a landscape architect with JRL Design of Naples, told the board that trees will line 10th Street, Third Avenue South, and South Goodlette-Frank Road. Groves of palm trees and a fountain will be at the center of the plaza and brick pavers will be throughout the project. There also will be a public gathering space, an open lawn, parking for bicycles, archways and trellises, and all rooftop areas will be fully landscaped with trees and shrubs, a design also being used at Trail’s End.