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Mary Hayes

The Naples Miracle Mile





The Miracle Mile project is a resident-led initiative started a year ago after the destruction of Hurricane Ian. It is a collaboration of residents and developers along the boulevard, Lowdermilk Park, neighborhood community associations, the Edgewater Hotel, and the Naples Beach Club, the future home of the Four Seasons Hotel. It is the stretch of Gulf Shore Boulevard North (GSBN) that runs from the Naples Beach Club to the Mooring Line Drive Bridge. This stretch of GSBN serves as a gateway to the entire city where many residents and tourists bike and walk along our beautiful beaches.


The mission of the Miracle Mile project is to engage stakeholders in a collaborative approach to redevelop a key area in the city in a thoughtful and coordinated manner. The plan is to create and implement a streetscape that includes the following:


  1. Retains and builds upon the unique character of Naples.

  2. Implements improvements to resiliency/stormwater and underground utilities while remaining environmentally responsible.

  3. Creates a cohesive and beautiful landscape in the public realm that residents value while enhancing the neighborhood and city.


In case you missed the Naples Daily News articles and WINK News stories on the Miracle Mile project, on February 7 at the regular city council meeting over 140 Miracle Mile residents and all 38 developments on the Miracle Mile were represented. The Coquina Sands and the Moorings residents made their presence very clear that they are fully engaged about what is going to happen to the boulevard in their neighborhood. The decision was made that day for the approval of the funding for consultants, Agnoli, Barber & Brundage recently purchased by LJA, which is another full-service local engineering consultancy firm, to move forward. LJA’s task is to create a conceptual master plan for the above-ground streetscape on the public right of way. The committee has already started meeting with the consultant and looks forward to sharing their progress thus far with residents. Right now, the consultant is working on developing a right-of-way base map of the boulevard and creating the Naples Miracle Mile website.


A big part of our project is community engagement. We want to hear from our residents. The committee completed a survey last summer that was emailed out to residents by the Gulf Shore Property Owners, Moorings, and Coquina Sands Associations. There were 864 responses. Residents were asked what features are most important to them along the Miracle Mile.


More than 90% of residents ranked the following as the ten most important features:

  • underground utilities

  • sidewalks

  • traffic density

  • low building heights

  • green space

  • lush landscaping on private property

  • stormwater flooding on the road

  • views to the gulf and bay

  • building setbacks

  • pedestrian crosswalks

  • green space

  • verdant landscaping on public property


The committee has met with residents and presented at neighborhood association meetings several times over the last year. They also plan on doing another survey in the future as well as creating additional in-person opportunities for residents to provide us with their further input about how they envision the future of the Miracle Mile.


The reason why this neighborhood project has been so successful thus far is that all the stakeholders have been collaborative. Current long-time residents, developers, future residents of these new luxury developments, the city of Naples, and the many tourists that will visit our two hotels will all benefit from a more structurally sound, safer, and aesthetically cohesive Miracle Mile.

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