Ave Maria, Florida...10 story chapel, university, city.

madfloridian

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Tue Aug-07-07 09:39 PM
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Ave Maria, Florida...10 story chapel, university, city.

From Naples, Florida...the city being built by Thomas S. Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza...is taking shape. A picture from January this year of the city.

Construction Photo, circa Jan. 2007

http://goodspeedupdate.com/?p=2081

Ave Maria, Florida is a lot of things. To its developer, it will be a �compact, walkable, self-sustaining� city of 30,000 people.

To Ave Maria University, it is home to their new campus, the first major Catholic university constructed in the U.S. in 40 years.

To its founder Tom Monaghan, it will be a conservative Catholic city on a hill, where there�ll be no porn on the cable system, no condoms in the stores, and no contraceptives in the pharmacy.

To bitter faculty of Ave Maria Law School, it is the �edge of Corkscrew swamp� where Monghan and his supporters will forcibly relocate them from Ann Arbor.

More about the city of Ave Maria.

Ave Maria, city, university and chapel

AVE MARIA - Rising 10 stories from former citrus and pasture land, the Oratory of Ave Maria University looks like a gigantic steel-and-stone artifact of the Industrial Age. But it's the vision of a former pizza magnate - his citadel of faith and learning in southwest Florida.

..."He decided to start a university in southwestern Florida, an area that lacked a major Catholic college, and Ave Maria University held its first classes at a temporary site in Naples in 2003.

Meanwhile, the Barron Collier Companies, a major developer in the region, saw the school as a focal point for its land in eastern Collier County - and offered Monaghan nearly 800 acres free. He bought another 100 acres, and the two formed a partnership

Well, actually it started out to be a city without the availibility of porn, birth control. I think the ACLU got involved and the mission is changing to be not so much a city. Just because it looks like one doesn't mean it is.

Visitors to Ave Maria University, brainchild of Domino's founder Tom Monaghan, take the walkway between the Canizaro Library, right, and the cathedral-size oratory.

Birth of clean town: Ave Maria

AVE MARIA, Fla. � Ten years ago, Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan had a vision to create a "fresh, faithful voice" in Catholic higher education. Now he has both a university and a brand-new town to put it in.
On Saturday, the town will open its doors to the public. Next week, Ave Maria University will move from its cramped quarters in Naples to a permanent campus here, which sits on what used to be about 1,000 acres of tomato plants.

Ave Maria has not been without controversy. The Florida American Civil Liberties Union has threatened to sue if the town bans birth control, as Monaghan suggested in a speech. Catholic educators say he could have found better ways to reach out than to create a town where single-family home prices range from $256,900 to $481,900.

Monaghan, 70, remains steadfast. "Everything I do I think I do for the right purposes," he says. "I only have to answer to my God."

And a little of what is to be found there.

It will include 11,000 "dwelling units": condominiums and single-family and town homes. To date, 335 dwelling units are under contract.

The town center features 1.2 million square feet of mixed-use space, including commercial retail, office space and condominiums.

140 students are enrolled in a private K-12 school opening in a few weeks. Public schools also are planned.

The 104-foot-tall oratory is scheduled to be completed in time for Christmas Mass. It will seat 1,100. The master plan calls for the construction (not yet started) of a 55-foot crucifix, the largest in North America.