Veterans’ Projects Advance

Government projects grind along at what can sometimes seem a glacial pace. But behind the scenes, things are happening. There has been progress on several county-related initiatives, including the veterans’ nursing home, affordable or workforce housing, a public golf course, and a new home for Naples’ military museum. 

All of these projects are due to rise on the site of the now closed Golden Gate golf course at the corner of Collier Blvd. and Golden Gate Parkway, behind a disused hotel property that was purchased by the county in 2019. Collier’s five county commissioners journeyed together to Washington D.C. to check in with the federal lawmakers and agencies who are expected to cough up a large percentage of the grant money to fund these initiatives. 

“All these three projects are moving ahead,” said District 3 Commissioner Burt Saunders, in whose district the former golf course sits. “I want to make Collier County the most veteran-friendly county in the state, and with this nursing home, we will accomplish that goal.” 

Saunders’ constituent newsletter laid out further details for the nursing home, which will be a project of the Florida Dept. of Veteran Affairs:

“An application has been made by the FDVA for federal funding that could be approved as soon as November of this year. The State Veterans Nursing Home will feature 120 skilled nursing beds consisting of two “neighborhoods” of 60 beds. These neighborhoods will each have their own gazebos and gardens, libraries and computer rooms, and a specialized sensory therapy room known as a Snoezelen room. The neighborhoods will also be connected to a “community center” that will feature amenities such as a coffee shop, sports bar, chapel, and barbershop. The Adult Day Health Care portion of the facility will have approximately 45 participant slots to allow family caregivers to hold employment and/or take a well-deserved respite from looking after their loved one.”

Saunders had projected groundbreaking for the facility to occur in 2025, but now says design work might push that back to the first part of 2026. 

“Collier County has the greatest need of any county in the state” to care for veterans, said Saunders, who was instrumental in getting the veterans’ nursing home located here. “We have problems with homeless veterans, and with veterans not getting quality care as they age.”  

The FDVA nursing home will focus on “long-term care for veterans in need of assistance with daily life activities, dressing, cooking, bathing and medication management,” said Alexandra Scardino, manager of Collier County Veteran Services. “We need it as soon as possible,” but just when the facility will break ground, be constructed and fully operational is the $120 million question. 

Area veterans were looking forward eagerly to the facility becoming reality. “This will be the most spectacular nursing home in veterans’ history nationally. It will look more like a resort,” said Marco Island’s Lee Rubenstein, American Legion Post 404 commander. District 1 Commissioner Rick LoCastro, a retired Air Force colonel, also takes a keen interest in veterans’ concerns. 

“It’s exciting to see something coming to fruition,” he said, although noting that much of the preliminary work could have been done years ago. LoCastro noted that the adjacent nine-hole golf course that has been greenlighted to take shape behind the nursing home location, on part of the previous 18-hole course, and the affordable housing projects nearby, also dovetail neatly with the needs of the nursing home and staff who will work there. 

“They seem like totally unrelated projects, but they’re not. I want my fellow veterans in the nursing home to be looking out their window at a beautiful golf course, not at a brick wall.” 

The golf course, to be partially underwritten by major Naples employer Arthrex, with a nine-hole public course, driving range, short game area, clubhouse with restaurant, and a First Tee Learning Center, will offer discounted play for county residents. The facility is expected to cost at least $21 million, and the county will provide $6 million to support the project as part of the agreement. 

In January of this year, an article in the Coastal Breeze noted that the local military museum was “bursting at the seams,” with not nearly enough space in their cramped quarters at the Naples Airport to properly display all the military weapons, artifacts and memorabilia they have. Part of the hotel property at Collier Blvd. and Golden Gate Parkway, an approximately 16,000 to 17,000 sq. ft. former banquet hall, has now been earmarked as the new home for the military museum, which will become part of the county’s museum system, along with facilities such as the Marco Island Historical Museum and the Museum of the Everglades. 

Dave Hinds, president of the museum organization, was ecstatic at the prospect of a new home for the museum and its collection. He was thinking big about what exhibits could be mounted in a display area 20 times bigger than what they have now. 

“The county owns a Sherman tank – that runs,” he said. “It would be great to get that out of the rain.” Other groups, he noted, have a submarine mounted on a trailer, and a replica of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. 

“It's exciting to now announce we are planning to utilize the Golden Gate building for combined County Veteran Services Center Offices and the Museum,” said LoCastro. “Improved and expanded space would allow for additional services such as a dedicated office for a social worker, legal services, a possible medical examination room for compensation and pension exams, and VA and Department of Defense military ID card assistance, as well as meeting space for many Veterans' organizations.”

There is additional synergy involved with affordable or workforce housing that will take shape near the facility, said LoCastro. 

“We don’t know the numbers yet, but we want some of it to be earmarked for the staff of the veterans’ nursing home. It’s hard to attract good staff, when they can’t find a place to live nearby they can afford.” He added that first responders, teachers on a budget, and similar helping professionals will also be able to find homes there.

“As our county housing team stated at the meeting, this is a unique project, and one that is long overdue in our community.”