Drive east from Naples and the landscape begins to open up. Subdivisions thin. Preserves stretch wider. Then, rising from former farmland, the steeple of Ave Maria appears like a quiet declaration: you’ve arrived.
At nearly 5,000 acres, Ave Maria is no accident. Developed by Barron Collier Companies in partnership with Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan, the community recently marked two decades since groundbreaking and is about halfway to its planned 11,000 homes. Last year alone, 515 residences sold — a notable figure in a state crowded with master-planned ambition.
For Michelle Mambuca, marketing and PR manager for Barron Collier Companies, the through line is connection. “It’s a planned community, so there’s everything that you need in town,” she says. “It’s mixed use. There’s residential, there’s commercial, and there’s a lot of growth happening now — more homes being sold, more commercial coming, which was the plan from the very beginning.”
What increasingly distinguishes Ave Maria in Southwest Florida’s development landscape is its emphasis on intergenerational living.
Beyond the Age-Restricted Model
Like many large-scale communities in the region, Ave Maria includes an active adult component. Del Webb Naples serves residents 55 and older. Yet it exists within a broader ecosystem that includes preschool through university education — with Ave Maria University anchoring the town center — alongside builders attracting families and working professionals.
“There’s a whole mix of ages and types of people, but everybody really has the same values,” Mambuca says. “They come here for similar reasons.”
Builders including Pulte, CC Homes, Lennar, and Del Webb offer home styles and price points generally spanning from the low $200,000s to the $800,000s. That range allows retirees, young families, and extended families to settle within blocks of one another.
Shared amenities reinforce the overlap. North and South Parks feature pickleball courts, sports fields, and recreation areas connected by roughly 100 miles of walking paths. Golf carts hum through neighborhood streets, a cultural cue of what residents describe as a “big kind of small town.” In an era when retirees often seek age-segregated enclaves and young families chase school districts, Ave Maria layers those groups together by design.
For some, that design shifts long-held assumptions.
Donna and Luis Perez had spent years in Cooper City, accustomed to Broward County’s steady pace. When their daughter relocated to Ave Maria with her family, they were skeptical. “We thought we’d just visit and see how things were going,” Donna Perez says. “But we fell in love with it ourselves.”
What surprised them was not manufactured charm but lived rhythm: children riding bikes along wide streets, neighbors gathering in parks at dusk, a sense of ease that felt deliberate rather than isolated. “At first, we weren’t sure if any of us could adjust to small-town life,” Donna says. “But after experiencing it, we’ve come to realize how wonderful it is for families. It’s the perfect place to grow together.”
Their story reflects a broader pattern. Intergenerational living often begins with a single move — a family relocating from Fort Lauderdale or Miami in search of more space and quieter streets. Months later, parents or siblings follow. What starts as one address becomes a cluster, bound less by marketing than by momentum.
Space, Connectivity, and the Long View
For South Florida transplants accustomed to denser coastal corridors, affordability and scale remain central to the appeal. “You could buy a home anywhere,” Mambuca notes. “So why are you going to choose Ave Maria? It really is a special place.” Buyers seek larger floor plans, home offices, and backyard space, but also something harder to quantify: belonging. “We tend to find people who want to know their neighbors. They want to get involved and give back to the community. It’s not just a home.”
For some East Coast residents, the map still suggests “the middle of nowhere.” In practice, Ave Maria sits within 45 minutes of central Naples and roughly an hour and 45 minutes from Fort Lauderdale or Miami, traffic permitting. As development steadily pushes east, new commercial corridors continue to fill in.
Preservation remains part of the equation. Approximately 17,000 acres of surrounding preserves shape the broader area, and stewardship requirements guide ongoing growth. Within town limits, more than 75 businesses operate, from medical practices to boutiques and restaurants. The ambition is convenience without constant commuting.
Education and health care anchor the next phase. A new public elementary school is slated to open for the 2026–27 school year, complementing existing private and university options. The Freedom Institute of Ave Maria, a homeschool program for high school students, is expected to launch this year. Dialum, a glass finishing company, is preparing to break ground on its headquarters, projected to bring at least 80 jobs. Naples Comprehensive Health has opened an urgent care center, with plans for expanded pediatric services, a freestanding emergency room, and eventually a hospital.
In a state defined by rapid growth and master-planned ambition, Ave Maria’s differentiation may come down to sociology. By design, grandparents, parents, and students share sidewalks, sports fields, school pickup lines, and Sunday dinners within the same ZIP code. In Florida’s evolving growth story, that proximity — intentional, organic, and increasingly multigenerational — may prove its most enduring asset.
