Collier board approves nearly $800,000 in incentives for commercial building in Golden
Laura Layden, Naples Daily News
Golden Gate’s new mixed-use commercial facility received roughly $800,000 from Collier County commissioners.
They hope it will spur more redevelopment in the four-square-mile hamlet.
On Tuesday, commissioners unanimously authorized incentives to reimburse the project’s developer up to $788,878 (and change) for construction costs.
County impact taxes, permit fees, and site sanitary sewer and drainage improvements will be reimbursed.
Impact fees, one-time levies on new building, help the county pay for roads, sewers, parks, and schools to keep up with population expansion.
Over $476,000.
First among many.
“Centro,” the first property to qualify for incentives in the Golden Gate Economic property Zone, was formed by county commissioners in 2018. The zone attracts and retains targeted enterprises with higher-paying positions, including headquarters, with a focus on “redevelopment and renewal of the commercial district along Golden Gate Parkway.”
Our archive:Golden Gate economic zone suggested
The project will be erected on a vacant 1.1-acre lot west of Dollar General at 5232 Golden Gate Parkway.
Pikus Properties develops. The corporation will get incentives for its new headquarters.
A county economic zone trust fund will fund the incentives.
The fund received any property tax increases in the county’s 2014 base tax year.
The fund can receive $1 million annually.
Project incentives matter.
For nearly a decade, family-owned Pikus Properties has invested in multifamily and office complexes in Golden Gate and throughout the county from smaller offices.
After the commission approved the incentives, owner Matthew Pikus indicated by phone that the new build will be the company’s first.
He added the incentives will help him develop a “transformational” Golden Gate project.
“Someone has to jump first,” Pikus added.
First-class Class A offices will be in the two-story building. Overlooking the Santa Barbara Canal, the second-floor offices will overlook a restaurant and retail businesses.
Pikus worried he could have to rethink or scale back the project when costs rose since he constructed the structure with something special in mind. He added the incentives will help him stick to his goals and produce something unique in Golden Gate that may be a model for other developers.
“I’m super excited,” he remarked, “that this is actually going to happen.”
It will create 175 jobs. Most will be construction-related temporary jobs.
Pikus said that the incentives represent 14% of the planned $4.8 million capital investment.
Project costs exceed $5.58 million.
Unique Golden Gate project
After receiving public finance, Pikus will advertise the building to restaurant owners and other retail and office tenants in Golden Gate as a unique opportunity.
Pikus said the restaurant will have 3,000 square feet for indoor dining and 1,700 to 1,800 for canal-front dining.
“It’s really going to be unique for Golden Gate,” he remarked. “There’s nothing like this right now.”
County staff assess the site plan.
The developer intends to “have a shovel in the ground” by year’s end and finish development by 2024.
Laura Layden, Naples Daily News
Wed, May 10, 2023, 3:46 PM EDT·6 min read
New Golden Gate two-story office/retail building rendering.
Golden Gate’s new mixed-use commercial facility received roughly $800,000 from Collier County commissioners.
They hope it will spur more redevelopment in the four-square-mile hamlet.
On Tuesday, commissioners unanimously authorized incentives to reimburse the project’s developer up to $788,878 (and change) for construction costs.
County impact taxes, permit fees, and site sanitary sewer and drainage improvements will be reimbursed.
Impact fees, one-time levies on new building, help the county pay for roads, sewers, parks, and schools to keep up with population expansion.
Over $476,000.
First among many.
“Centro,” the first property to qualify for incentives in the Golden Gate Economic property Zone, was formed by county commissioners in 2018. The zone attracts and retains targeted enterprises with higher-paying positions, including headquarters, with a focus on “redevelopment and renewal of the commercial district along Golden Gate Parkway.”
Our archive:Golden Gate economic zone suggested
The project will be erected on a vacant 1.1-acre lot west of Dollar General at 5232 Golden Gate Parkway.
Pikus Properties develops. The corporation will get incentives for its new headquarters.
A county economic zone trust fund will fund the incentives.
The fund received any property tax increases in the county’s 2014 base tax year.
The fund can receive $1 million annually.
Project incentives matter.
For nearly a decade, family-owned Pikus Properties has invested in multifamily and office complexes in Golden Gate and throughout the county from smaller offices.
After the commission approved the incentives, owner Matthew Pikus indicated by phone that the new build will be the company’s first.
He added the incentives will help him develop a “transformational” Golden Gate project.
“Someone has to jump first,” Pikus added.
First-class Class A offices will be in the two-story building. Overlooking the Santa Barbara Canal, the second-floor offices will overlook a restaurant and retail businesses.
Pikus worried he could have to rethink or scale back the project when costs rose since he constructed the structure with something special in mind. He added the incentives will help him stick to his goals and produce something unique in Golden Gate that may be a model for other developers.
“I’m super excited,” he remarked, “that this is actually going to happen.”
It will create 175 jobs. Most will be construction-related temporary jobs.
Pikus said that the incentives represent 14% of the planned $4.8 million capital investment.
Project costs exceed $5.58 million.
Unique Golden Gate project
After receiving public finance, Pikus will advertise the building to restaurant owners and other retail and office tenants in Golden Gate as a unique opportunity.
Pikus said the restaurant will have 3,000 square feet for indoor dining and 1,700 to 1,800 for canal-front dining.
“It’s really going to be unique for Golden Gate,” he remarked. “There’s nothing like this right now.”
County staff assess the site plan.
The developer intends to “have a shovel in the ground” by year’s end and finish development by 2024.
New Golden Gate commercial building map.
The project is popular.
The commission’s consent agenda allowed it to be passed without discussion.
Burt Saunders removed it to explain it to the board’s two new commissioners.
It also highlighted the long-awaited project.
“This has been a couple years in the making, but at least we have the first one ready to go,” he said.
Saunders ran in 2016 to solve Golden Gate’s critical problems, a poorer region of his constituency.
The project’s sanitary sewer line extension will connect seven commercial sites and eight multifamily units to county services, moving them off septic tanks and lowering seepage into the canal, Saunders’ priority.
“It won’t solve the problem,” he remarked. “But it will certainly help.”
He agreed after a little debate. Commissioner Bill McDaniel seconded.
ROI questioned
McDaniel supported the incentives but wanted to know the county’s investment return.
As the first “to go” in the economic development zone, county manager Amy Patterson informed him it’s too soon to decide.
She noted that the new building will increase property taxes, reduce septic tank pollution, create jobs, and ripple through the community as others follow the first developer to take advantage of Golden Gate incentives.
Patterson remarked, “Working in this zone will clarify the picture.”
Amie French, chief of the county’s Growth Management Department, said the initiative “grasps the spirit” of what county commissioners hoped to achieve when they formed the economic development, or innovation, zone.
According to the county’s interest in the area, it’s a first-class project with many more to come.
French vowed to share new data with commissioners to show the county’s community investment returns.
Saunders acknowledged McDaniel’s worries but stressed the impact on the community the county is seeking to aid.
Saunders said in a phone interview before the board meeting that he would have liked the initial project to move faster, but he understood that economic development takes time.
With the attention from the first incentive payout and $8 million in the fund, he expects another opportunity soon.
“I think the word will be out,” Saunders remarked. That the taxing district has funding to help firms that fulfill our standards out there.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Office build