North Naples-based medical-device manufacturer Arthrex plans to build transitional corporate housing in North Naples to make it easier to attract and retain employees.

It’s the first transitional corporate apartments petition to come before the county.

“Arthrex and other employers candidly are struggling in getting employees or people to relocate to Collier County to come in and work,” Arthrex land-use attorney Richard Yovanovich told the Collier County Planning Commission on Sept. 20. “One of the reasons is the sticker shock at what it costs to either rent or buy a unit. And they believe—and other employers believe—that if they can offer this transitional housing opportunity, people will come, they’ll work here and then they’ll find a place where they wish to live and reside in Collier County.”

Planning commissioners unanimously recommended that a 2.06-acre site at 208 Palm River Blvd. be rezoned from multifamily to Residential Planned-Unit Development and to amend the county’s Growth Management Plan to add the Palm River Corporate Housing Residential Subdistrict to allow up to 41 furnished rentals for Arthrex employees and others relocating here, on assignment or undergoing training. If there’s a vacancy and Arthrex doesn’t need it, it would be available to other county employers.

Property records show an Arthrex affiliate, Palm River Accommodations LCC, paid $5.75 million in May 2023 for the property, which currently houses a 12-unit multifamily apartment complex built in 1989. It’s north of Immokalee Road, near LaPlaya Golf Club in Palm River.

Current zoning allows 33 units and a 75-foot-high building, but Arthrex is seeking eight additional units in a tiered five-story, 65-foot-high building. The recommendation will go to the Board of County Commissioners for a public hearing and final approval, and the land change must be accepted by the state Department of Economic Opportunity.

Arthrex, which employs 4,500 in Southwest Florida, has 3,800 employees in Collier County, where there are 200 employment vacancies—300 in Southwest Florida. Its economic benefit to the county is more than $2 billion and its petition notes that it consistently averages double-digit annual employee growth, but the housing crisis makes it difficult to fill positions.

Employees’ length of stay in Arthrex’s transitional housing increased from about 60 days or less to more than 135 days due to challenges finding permanent housing. To alleviate that, Arthrex retained more than 40 temporary housing units over the past two years, adding more after Sept. 28, 2022, to help employees displaced by Hurricane Ian. Arthrex projects transitional housing requests will increase by at least 10% annually and it needs more than these 41 units.

“Providing interim corporate housing, which allows many employees to live near each other, allows new employees to meet other similarly situated employees and allows them to assimilate into the Arthrex corporate community,” Arthrex’s petition said. “This type of interim housing also allows them to become familiar with the benefits of living in Collier County. This will result in higher employee satisfaction and assist in retaining employees in Collier County.”

Yovanovich said Arthrex is “thinking outside the box.” The apartments will provide below market-rate housing for employees at various income levels. According to Apartments.com, the market rate ranges from $1,965 monthly for a one-bedroom apartment, $2,379 for a two bedroom to $2,946 for three bedrooms.

The site’s existing building takes advantage of only half the eligible density under the Growth Management Plan. The planner is Q. Grady Minor, engineers are Agnoli Barber & Brundage and JMB Transportation Engineering, and the architect is MHK Architecture.

Although several Palm River residents emailed concerns, only one neighbor spoke out, a River Royale resident who lives closest to the apartments. “We basically will have had a five-story hotel just plunked in the middle of a pretty quiet residential neighborhood,” Cannon said.

Because the county now requires developers seeking additional density to reserve 30% of units, 12, for affordable housing, county staff recommended denying the project. Planning commissioners also cited numerous concerns. In the end, county Planning & Zoning Director Mike Bosi called the concept “unique” and agreed it could be allowed—with provisions.

Palm River Corporate Housing must submit annual reports to prove employees are staying from 30 days to a year. It could be extended if an employee needs time to build a home or finalize a lease. If just one unit isn’t being used as transitional housing by an employee working within the county, the eight additional units would become income-restricted rentals for 30 years. Collier’s area median income is $104,300 and they’d rent for 100% AMI—$1,958 for a one bedroom to $2,713 for a three-bedroom apartment.