Civitas of Cape Coral, the city’s first attainable workforce housing development, broke ground Monday morning at 105 Civitas Court.
The project has been in the planning stages for about two years, clearing many hurdles along the way.
“There was a point of the product we were 99% sure, it may not may or may not happen,” Allen said. “There were some issues beyond our control, but we broke through the barriers and made it happen.”
The project is a collaboration between private and public entities coming together to address a need the community has been facing for years.
“Affordable housing is something we need throughout Lee County,” said County Commissioner Kevin Ruane. “It’s been an issue; it was an issue before the storm, now it’s an even bigger issue after the storm.”
All 96 units will be for residents earning 80% of the area median income, with other options for those making 60% and 30% of the AMI. It is funded through local, state and federal dollars, following guidelines by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Civitas will be made up of three energy-efficient, green building-certified residential buildings with one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The average rent is going to be about $950 per month, Allen said.
“Based upon our research, we project roughly 80% of the adults that are going to live here are going to be in the workforce and about 20% of adults are going to be on fixed incomes, Social Security, disability or veterans affairs housing assistance,” Allen said. “Of the 80% of adults that are working, there’s going to be a few broad industries represented such as tourism, government and institutional, retail, health care and transportation.”
Future residents can look forward to a 6,100-square-foot clubhouse, including a community business center, a fitness center, a swimming pool and on-site property management and maintenance. Residents will also have access to on-site financial literacy and employment training assistance.
“This is really, really exciting because this is the definition of smart growth,” Allen said. “This is a good accessible, affordable housing that is near the infrastructure. It’s near transportation and is near jobs.”
The Civitas project may be one of many in the county.
“To attract people to come here to work, you need to obviously have affordable housing,” Ruane said. “Without that, employers continue to obviously not grow, they continue to have staffing shortages. So, it’s really a need here and a need that we really need to try to do more projects like this.”
Ruane said the county was recently awarded a grant from HUD for $1.1 billion, opening more opportunity for projects like Civitas.
There is a scheduled 12-month construction time for the first building after breaking ground, with each subsequent building to follow in 30-day increments each. The construction for the project is anticipated to take 14 months. Upon completion, Civitas will be managed by Professional Management Inc.
“I couldn’t achieve the success of this development alone,” Allen said. “I needed the assistance of state funding, we needed the support of great partners and great local leadership. For this product to be successful, it was going to take a village, it was going to take a community. Due to this, I decided to name the project Civitas of Cape Coral. Civitas is the Latin term for community, and I’m so very thankful for this community.”
