Good News For Home Owners in Golden Gate Estates - Orangetree Publix opening March 23

Published in Naples News on 3/6/17:

The long-awaited Publix supermarket in Golden Gate Estates is set to open at 7 a.m. March 23.

On average, it typically requires 40 semitrailers loaded with groceries to stock a new Publix store. That work began Wednesday as employees from other area Publix stores reported for duty to start the process, said Brian West, corporate spokesman for Publix Super Markets Inc.

“It typically takes us about three weeks to get the stores stocked,” West said. “It’s a lot of folks. There are a ton of people scrambling throughout the store. It’s a lot of busy work. They’re there with a mission.”

Once the shelves are fully stocked, the final food items to be put into place will be the produce on the afternoon before the store opens, West said.

Although the new store is about 46,000 square feet, it’s roughly 20,000 square feet smaller than the nearest Publix — the nearly 68,000-square-foot store that has operated since November 2001 in the Shoppes at Pebblebrooke at Immokalee Road and Collier Boulevard.

“That’s a big store,” West said of the Pebblebrooke location, noting that the grocer’s largest stores used to be built with a footprint of 65,000 square feet but now are topping out at about 56,000 square feet.

The Publix in the new Neighborhood Shoppes at Orangetree on the corner of Immokalee Road and Randall Boulevard is actually slightly larger than the company’s average 45,000-square-foot store now and employs 140 to 145.

“This store will have all the bells and whistles and look like our latest offering,” West said, noting that it will include a soup bar and some different offerings not available yet at most other stores. “Most customers are going to be hard-pressed to look for an item" the store doesn’t have.

The new store will open on a Thursday — the day of the week the Lakeland-based grocery chain usually launches stores in this region — after a brief ribbon-cutting, followed by a day of giveaways and product sampling opportunities, West said.

“We don’t typically do a lot of fanfare,” he said. “It’s really all about the customer. We want to celebrate with them. It’s their store.”

And the folks in Golden Gate Estates have been waiting for years for their store. Some still refuse to believe it is really opening until it actually opens.

A year ago the store announced plans to open last fall, but West cited a lack of water service for keeping the newly built store offline for another four months, resulting in a major loss of revenue anticipated during season. Orange Tree Utility Co. blamed Publix for not adhering to a utility checklist.

But that’s water over the dam. As of last Wednesday, the Collier County Water-Sewer District is the owner of the water and wastewater systems for Orangetree communities.

“It’s resolved at this point. We’ve been able to coordinate with the county and get the (water) pressure we need,” West said. “We are very, very, very excited to get this one open.”

In addition to Publix, the nearly 10-acre Neighborhood Shoppes at Orangetree will include a CVS pharmacy, a Publix Liquors store, a Chinese restaurant, a nail salon and another freestanding business that has yet to be finalized.

The liquor store next to the grocery store will not launch the same day as Publix, West said.

“We don’t have an opening date yet for the liquor store, but we will have one there,” he said.

The other businesses are still months away from opening. CVS plans to begin construction of its building on the 2-acre hard corner in the second half of the year for a store opening in 2018, said Mike DeAngelis, senior director of corporate communications for CVS Health.

The western end of the Publix strip will be anchored by a Chinese restaurant operated by Jack Lin, who also owns China King in the Publix-anchored Brooks Village shopping center at Pine Ridge Road and Collier Boulevard. Because Lin estimates it will take him four months to complete his new restaurant in Orangetree, July will be the earliest he’ll open China Palace, which is what he’s now planning to name it now.

Between Publix Liquors and China Palace, Diamond Nails salon also is expected to open this summer.

“It will take at least three months to get my shop ready to open,” said co-owner Vinny Le, whose family owns six other nail salons in Collier County.

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Or Call Naples Top Real Estate Agent Michael Shoaff at 239-298-9903 

Collier County ranked No. 6 on a national list of the "Best Places to Get a Mortgage."

SmartAsset, a New York financial technology firm, did the study and rankings, based on four factors:

·         overall borrowing costs;

·       -   ease of securing a mortgage;

·        -  cheap property taxes;

·         - low annual mortgage payments.

It was the third year for the study.

"This is the first time Collier County has made the national Top 10. However, this is the third year in a row they have ranked in the Top 10 for Florida," said A.J. Smith, personal finance expert and vice president of content at SmartAsset.

Collier ranked eighth in Florida in 2016 and fourth in both 2015 and this year.

"Collier County's ranking was likely helped by the fact that they outperformed the national averages in each of the study's categories," Smith said.

SmartAsset bases its rankings on $200,000 loan after a 20 percent down payment, Smith said.

SmartAsset looks at expected costs over the first five years of the mortgage.

The ease of getting a mortgage is determined by comparing the ratio of mortgage applications to mortgage originations in each county.

Annual mortgage payments are based on the average mortgage rates in each county.

Based on those criteria Collier County had a loan funding rate of more than 61 percent, five-year borrowing costs of $77,755, annual property taxes of $9,920 and an annual mortgage payment of $14,639.

With home prices rising, Collier County has a shortage of homes under $300,000, so the quoted costs for a mortgage and property taxes might differ widely from the information generated by SmartAsset.  Also, the county sees a lot of cash buyers.

Florida counties were well-represented on this year's list:

» Sumter County is the top-ranked spot to get a mortgage in the U.S., beating the national averages in every category.

» Three Panhandle counties are in the top 10 nationally: Walton, second; Okaloosa, fourth; and Santa Rosa, eighth.

» Indian River County cracked the national list at No. 10.

Lee County ranked 15th in Florida and 32nd in the U.S.

More information on the study can be found at smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-rates?year=2017#us.

BEST PLACES TO GET A MORTGAGE 

Rank     County                     Loan funding    5-year borrowing    Property tax    Annual mortgage                                                                      rate                         costs                                           payment

1         Sumter, Fla.                 71.58%                 $77,755               $12,615            $14,639

2         Walton, Fla.                 60.97%                 $77,755                $ 7,156            $14,639

3         Jackson, Mo.               65.05%                 $76,189               $18,131            $14,857

4         Okaloosa, Fla.             61.75%                 $77,755                $ 9,665            $14,639

5         San Mateo, Calif.         67.92%               $77,171                  $ 9,085            $14,688

6         Collier, Fla.                  61.31%                $77,755                  $ 9,920            $14,639                  

7         San Francisco, Calif.   66.61%                $77,171                  $ 8,842            $14,688

8         Santa Rosa, Fla.         60.67%                $77,755                  $10,213            $14,639

9         Washington, Ore.        67.35%               $76,700                   $15,292            $14,830 

10       Indian River                 62.36%               $77,755                   $11,749            $14,639

           Nationwide                  57.89%               $77,762                   $13,744            $14,808

Source: SmartAsset

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Plans approved for $50M park in Golden Gate Estates

Plans for a new $50 million park in Golden Gate Estates were approved by Collier County commissioners on Tuesday.

The park will be built on a 150-acre tract of land next to the Collier County Fairgrounds, near the intersection of Oil Well and Immokalee roads.

Urban sprawl in Collier County is pushing east, meaning more people, especially young families, are moving into the area.

“When we moved onto our street, there were like four houses,” said Charlotte Elliott, who’s lived in the area for 20 years. “Now there’s like 30-something houses.”

Elliott says kids need a community park like the one approved by county leaders, “they definitely need somewhere out there for the kids to keep them out of trouble.”

The county planned on building the park a decade ago, but the plans were put on hold because of the recession. Some of the park’s amenities include walking trails, a splash park, swimming pool, basketball, baseball and tennis courts.

“I think it’s gonna be good for kids, good for families,” said Dean Coffin, “but people are used to quiet living on that end of town and I think this is gonna compromise their privacy.”

Meanwhile, homeowner Jojo Sayers says park is just too expensive, “government spends too much money as it is.”

Yet with the area of Collier County continuing to grow, commissioners say now is the time to act and Elliot agrees.

“We need that out there for the kids,” Elliott said.

Crews will build the park in phases, the first one will most likely begin sometime next year.

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Home sales are up in Golden Gate Estates while other parts of Naples slows down. 

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Collier County to take over Orange Tree Utility

After years of fighting in court for the right to run the water and sewer lines that serve a few thousand homes and businesses in the eastern part of the county, Collier County will at long last take over the Orange Tree Utility.

County commissioners voted 4-0 Tuesday to approve a settlement agreement with the small private water utility to run the waterworks, ending a fight that began in 2012. Commissioner Burt Saunders abstained from the vote because he represented the utility for years as a lawyer.

Several residents in attendance celebrated as commissioners voted, hopeful that with the county in charge, they will have better, more reliable service.

“We’re looking forward to dealing with people who believe in public service,” said Shirley Cothran, who lives in Waterways of Naples. “All our interactions with the Collier County water system have been positive, friendly and nice. The same cannot be said for Orange Tree.”

The move can only help a growing population near the Collier County Fairgrounds in the land surrounding Immokalee Road and Randall Boulevard, said Anthony Solomon, executive vice president and owner of The Ronto Group, a development company that owns many of the gated communities and planned developments in the area.

“It’s just been difficult for Orange Tree to get things done,” Solomon said. “They have a small operation, and they knew the county was going to take over, so they weren’t going to go out and hire people, and they can’t get bonds like most utilities. It’s just untenable and has been more than frustrating for customers.”

Some of that frustration has bubbled up in recent months as a new Publix waiting to get its water turned on has sat empty since November with its doors locked, almost taunting residents nearby and in Golden Gate Estates who have been waiting decades for a full-service grocery store.

Publix spokesman Brian West said the company is monitoring the takeover and is hopeful that any change will help move the project forward.

“Our customers are waiting to shop with us at their new store,” West said.

The county will take over the utility March 1.

Orange Tree Utility was created in the 1980s before county utilities ran that far to the east. Developers of the area were allowed to run the utility with a provision that the county could take it over at any time and at no cost once the county’s water and sewer lines caught up with development in the east.

In 2013, commissioners demanded the utility, but owners refused to hand it over, saying they were entitled to some compensation for the improvements and investments in the company. The county sued in 2014.

The county believes the utility has collected around $12 million in revenue over the years from its users, while investing only $10 million back into the system. Utility owners say the money has gone into the system. Rather than fight about the $2 million discrepancy, the settlement agreement will allow the utility, which is run by Roberto Bollt and Stephen Lowitz, to keep the money.

“That’s the cost. That’s the give and take,” said lawyer Brian Armstrong, who represents the county. “Let them have the $2 million and let them walk away with it.”

The utility owners still have developments in the area.

The utility and the county will split the cost to hire an engineering firm to determine if there is any excess capacity in the system. If excess capacity is found, then the county will rebate utility owners the value of that capacity by offering free hookups to the water and sewer lines in their developments.

The settlement is a good deal for residents and the county, Anderson said.

“The county is getting a utility that has a conservative value of $15 million,” Anderson said. “The utility generates an annual gross revenue of $1.7 million. The county is essentially getting a multimillion-dollar revenue asset for nothing. And this settles longstanding, protracted and expensive litigation.”

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