A new commercial and residential development could soon be built at the 21- acre northeast quadrant of Bonita Beach Road and Interstate 75 upon approval of Bonita Springs City Council.
The Bonita zoning board approved a plan for more than 200 multifamily residential units, along with a couple of commercial use buildings. The land is zoned for 460,000 square feet of mixed commercial use. However, upon rezoning, this new development will have 10,000 square feet of commercial use with the rest residential.
The plan delivered to the zoning board showed horizontal living rental apartments, each unit being two stories and no residences on top of another.
The developer, Madison Capital Group, a private equity real estate and development firm headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, will have to present a bonus density agreement to the city council to increase the 205 units associated with the application to 252. The standard density is 10 units per acre with the option of going up to 15 dwelling units if affordable housing is built or it provides. payment to the city. The developer is choosing to pay the fee.
Zoning board member Bruce Galloway doesn’t think apartments are the best use of the land. “I ask this group what we’re giving up to me, what I consider as a planner, valuable acreage that is meant to serve the traveling public, by taking out the stock land we have available that’s 300-something acres and putting that into an apartment category,” Galloway said.
Board members discussed the potential for too much traffic on Miller Road, where the entrance to the development is planned off a busy part of Bonita Beach Road. The developer’s current plan is to allow right turns only onto Miller Road and right turns only onto Bonita Beach Road when exiting.
The zoning board approved to push the project to city council in a 4-2 vote, with Galloway and Gary Campbell dissenting.
Madison Capital Group is still working out the purchasing contract with current owners CRM Companies that bought the land for just less than $4 million in 2015. It was expressed at the meeting that the purchase should be finalized by the end of the month, so approval from the council is hoped for sooner rather than later.
It is unknown at this time if the first hearing of this rezoning ordinance will be discussed at the next City Council meeting on July 6. If approved, this will be Madison Capital Group’s first residential project in the Southwest Florida area. The firm primarily focuses on the multifamily and self-storage sectors, according to its website.
“We’re excited about this project, we’re an existing stakeholder in the city of Bonita Springs and looking to add to that down here,” said Todd Bleakley, executive managing director of Madison Capital Group, who is in charge of Madison’s development activity in Florida.
