The Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Course, comprising approximately 187 acres, is the last large, open area in Olde Naples, Florida. It deserves to be cherished and preserved in perpetuity. The main hotel building is a living and thriving link, to the history of Naples.   The open space, comprises an 18 hole championship golf course, designed by the legendary Jack Nicklaus, where he first scored less than 40, aged 11, while staying with his parents at the hotel.  It also provides abundant and verdant habitat for Florida fauna, flora and wildlife.  The charming Mary C. Watkins Tennis Center, located discretely in a corner of the open space, is named after the matriarch of the family, that created this wonderful environment in the 1940's.

This area as a whole, is a major contributor to what makes Naples so beloved and attractive, to its residents and many American and foreign visitors.  They are drawn to Naples unique combination of modernity and iconic, old world charm.  

We believe that the development currently proposed by the Athens Group, based in Phoenix, AZ and funded by Michael Dell, (*ranked 27th richest in the world, with a net worth of $41.8 billion, as of February 2021.(*wikipedia)), takes us down a slippery slope, that will result in Naples wonderful charm and character, being irreversibly diminished.  Once lost, it will be lost forever and Naples will be left, living with the consequences, long after the developers have taken their profits and left town.

The Athens group proposals, in our opinion, represents an over intensive development that is insensitive and inappropriate.  It will result in:

• The demolition of the Naples Beach Hotel.  
• A reduction in the Open Area.  
• A reduction in the size of the golf course, to just 10 holes.
• A reduction in the number of lakes in the open area, which will impact on wildlife and result in the diminution of a storm water filtration cycle, created from the golf course's natural grass, sand and lakes system.
• The complete destruction of the much loved, Mary C Watkins Tennis Center, currently available to and extensively used by the Naples community for the past 25 years.  
• The immediate area being inundated with an intensive number of 5 and 7 storey blocks of condominiums, where virtually none existed previously.  
• In addition, it is proposed to build a complex of sporting facilities as part of the hotel, which has been described by local residents as an "amusement park".  

All of the above, taken with a proposed new retail market square, will have the capacity to exacerbate even further, the potential for disruption this development will bring to Olde Naples and local residents.

We believe the loss of any profit to Michael Dell from withdrawing as the financier of this development, will be less material to him, than would be the catastrophic loss of and deleterious effect, that the development will have on Olde Naples, its resident and visitors, if allowed to proceed.  

Join us to help save Olde Naples, by opposing this development and requesting that Mr. Dell reconsider his decision to finance it. Register your support by signing this petition.  Please also take the opportunity to make your views known to the Naples City Councillors.  We believe they will wish to take your views into account, when making their final planning decisions.  Do not be intimated, spread the word and let your voices be heard. 

cllrs: theitmann, mmccabe, rchristman, thutchison, tblankenship, pperry, gprice, all @naplesgov.com