Rendering courtesy of Ave Maria University
With no height limitation in view, Ave Maria
officials have the freedom to build high to the heavens.
And that's exactly what they plan to do.
A landmark church 150 feet tall and a 60-foot red-tinted glass cross
with a 40-foot body of Christ were among the designs that Ave Maria
officials revealed Wednesday during a press conference at LaPlaya Beach
& Golf Resort in North Naples.
After a brief introduction from a table of men in dark suits, cream
drapes were removed from 12 boards to reveal the plans for the first phase
of the Catholic university and town. Collier County commissioners didn't
see those renderings when approving the development's first phase during
Tuesday's commission meeting.
Camera shutters clicked in unison and television cameras focused on the
force behind Ave Maria, the founder of Domino's Pizza, Tom Monaghan, who
sat quietly and peered away as people admired the display like pieces of
art.
The designs for the development, a joint venture between Monaghan and
Barron Collier Cos., included the student activities building, aerial
pictures of the campus, science, math and technology building, the library
and the crucifix and landmark church — the first Catholic university to be
built in the United States in 40 years.
Ave Maria officials said the church will have the largest seating
capacity — more than 3,300 — of any Catholic church in the country and the
largest crucifix in the world.
The Rev. Joseph Fessio said the National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception in Washington, D.C., can hold 6,400 people, but that includes
standing room as well.
Collier Commissioner Jim Coletta said there is no height limit for Ave
Maria town and university.
Monaghan said he hasn't thought of the buildings to be higher than five
stories.
In Collier County, churches are considered conditional uses so the
height limit depends what zoning district they are in, said Lisa Koehler,
spokeswoman for the Collier County Community Development Division.
Steeples are excluded from height limitations.
If it's in a commercial area, a church could be 50 feet tall. If it's
in a residential area, it could be 35 feet tall.
The height limit for multifamily buildings, such as condominiums, is
50, 75, or 100 feet, depending on the location.
Coletta said 150 feet is high, but, he said, "there will be nothing to
compare it with. It's one of a kind. Not only the church, but the town
itself."
Monaghan said the town, which could end up having 20,000 residents once
the project is complete, will have many Catholic residents, therefore the
town would need a large church.
One thought was to create smaller churches, but they chose to build one
large church instead.
The church, designed by Cannon Design of New York, will be comprised of
steel, aluminum and glass arches raised toward the heavens. It will house
14 confessionals, one for each station of the cross, and burial crypts
designed to hold ashes.
Monaghan is a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture and the designs
are similar to the work of Fay Jones, an American architect who
apprenticed under Wright. Monaghan said Jones is famous for his chapel
designs, which were inspired by cathedrals in Europe.
The church, he said, is there to remind the people "what we're about."
The landmark will be built facing east, Fessio said, because the east
is where newness comes from.
"Catholic churches here have always been built facing the east," Fessio
said. "We (designed) this church facing the rising sun. Our whole lives
should be oriented toward the sun."
Coletta and Steve Hart, the Naples district representative for U.S.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, also referred to religion during their
brief speeches.
"God's work is getting ready to take place here," Hart said.
Ave Maria officials hope to break ground on old farm fields south of
Immokalee by late fall or early winter. They intend to open the university
in 2006.
The first phase covers 960 acres, but Ave Maria eventually could cover
some 4,500 acres, an area almost twice the size of Golden Gate, according
to plans. Plans for the first phase show the university will serve 1,200
students with classrooms, a technology center, student housing, a student
recreation center, a performing arts center, five undergraduate
dormitories, two graduate dormitories and a library that will hold 420,000
volumes of books. It will have 350 faculty staff members.
Unless the students live with their parents, they will be required to
live on campus.
A private school for grades kindergarten to 12th grade and parks also
are part of the first phase.
After the phase is complete, Monaghan expects it to have cost $240
million.
He compares the university to the size and quality of Princeton
University. Faculty members will be well-respected, successful professors.
One job candidate was recommended by two Nobel peace prize winners.
AMU has 25,000 donors across the United States, AMU President Nick
Healy Jr. said. He said two families have committed $5 million apiece to
the project and two additional gifts of $1 million apiece also have been
promised as gifts.
"This is something God wants," Healy said. "He wants his mother
honored."
The current interim campus is located in the Vineyards area in North
Naples, where more than 100 students are studying the liberal arts
curriculum including literature, philosophy, theology, history,
mathematics, biology, economics, political science and classical
languages.
