Collier’s Board of County Commissioners faced a dilemma this month: Selling property to the higher bidder, or to a free after-school program for migrant and poverty-level families for about half the $1.31 million bid.

The program had been working with the county on the purchase for months. For years it’s had to limit programs because its current space nearby is too small.

But county staff recommended the higher bidder, John J. Gray, the multimillionaire owner of My Other Place luxury vehicle storage on Performance Way. He also owns property across the street, next to the county parcels, where he stores his model trains and antique cars. He wants to build more storage. Gargiulo Education Center, a 24-year-old nonprofit which operates out of a dilapidated, 2,500-square-foot building on nearby Rail Head Boulevard in North Naples, had searched for years for land to expand its after-school program and community center for atrisk, latchkey and migrant students and poverty-level families. It serves 80 children, many of whom are the children or grandchildren of migrant farm workers who work for Gargiulo Inc., a produce company on Old 41. About 60 children are bused to the center after school while their parents work in fields.

“Storage is not for the community,” Mary Asta, the center’s executive director, said in an interview, calling the desire to expand a storage facility greedy. “It’s a man cave.”

In February, the center submitted a letter of intent to purchase 16140 and 16044 Performance Way for $674,900, the county’s 2007 purchase price. Asta plans to partner with North Collier Fire & Rescue, providing it with free offices, a community center and storage.

Gray, who lives in Mediterra, learned of the plans and pending sale after Gargiulo Education Center held its fifth annual gala on April 25 at Mediterra, where it raised $505,000 for construction. Afterward, a resident approached Asta and Fire & Rescue Chief Eloy Ricardo.

“A woman was asking all kinds of questions about the land,” Asta said.

After working with the county for months, negotiations with the county halted without explanation in May, despite Asta pushing to continue.

“I’ve been working on this for a year. There is nothing else out there. I’ve looked for three years,” Asta said, adding that the chief toured her center a year ago, was impressed, offered to help find a site, then told her about a nearly 1-acre site the county once intended to use for an EMS station. It’s now considered surplus property after the county opted to build elsewhere.

Asta was unaware Gray had contacted Deputy County Manager Ed Finn in May, offering $1.45 million for the parcels. Ostensibly to compete with the nonprofit, Gray offered to purchase the land through his nonprofit, UP In Smoke Foundation.

Faced with two offers, the county put the properties up for a competitive bid in August, allowing others to bid. Gray offered $1.31 million cash and Asta maintained her original offer, with a $10,000 deposit. They were the only bidders and Gray told Finn his offer represents the market value. But county documents provided to commissioners listed the wrong entity: Up In Smoke LLC, a Hernando county tobacco shop; not Gray’s foundation, a charity not listed in state Sunbiz records, which track businesses and charities.

Money not the only goal

On Nov. 12, just as commissioners were poised to accept Gray’s higher bid, Commission Chair Chris Hall pulled the item off the consent agenda, where it would have been approved quickly without discussion.

“You think it’s all about the money, but it’s not all about the money,” Hall said. “We have a great public benefit going on out there with the Gargiulo Education Center. … I brought this forward so we could discuss it … a deal is when both sides walk away happy.”

After a discussion and agreement to increase the offer to reimburse Collier for additional costs, commissioners unanimously voted to continue negotiations with the center, which incorporated as a nonprofit a decade ago. Commissioners are expected to vote on the sale Dec. 10, once negotiations are complete.

The unusual reversal came after last-minute talks among County Manager Amy Patterson, Asta, Ricardo and Hall, and emails and texts by The Naples Press to Patterson, Hall and other county commissioners detailing what led to Gray’s bid, noting Up In Smoke LLC didn’t belong to Gray and pointing out Gray made his offer through a charity known for funding the historic preservation of Union Pacific steam locomotives.

The Naples Press asked if the county considers factors besides the highest bid, citing the center’s work and emails students sent that urged commissioners to reconsider and make an “investment in the community.”

“The center offers students in the community the opportunity to acquire beneficial skills,” wrote Ashley Pimental, who heads the center’s Entrepreneurial Apprentice Program, noting she’d been a student there since kindergarten. “It’s not just an after-school program where they help students with academic needs, but also builds students to be well-rounded individuals … I have gained valuable social, leadership, academic and life skills that have made me the person I am today.”

She cited another student, now a Lee County middle-school music teacher, one of Champions for Learning’s 2024-25 Golden Apple Nominees. She noted the center helps students achieve not only academic goals, but “a sense of community and leadership that extends beyond the classroom.”

“Investing in the expansion of the Gargiulo Education Center and its programs is an impactful decision,” Pimental concluded. “The long-term benefits of this investment will allow our students and families the opportunity to thrive and develop active community leaders.”

The next morning, Asta received a call from Hall.

“He said that he’s been praying on this whole issue, and he believes that what we’re doing is a good thing and it shouldn’t be all about money,” Asta said. “However, he’s got to make other people happy, so if [the commission were to] up the amount a bit and finance it … would [I] be able to deal with that? And I said yes.”

But during the meeting, Hall suggested $1 million and Asta, who is raising money to build the center, told commissioners the center can’t afford that. Department Head Trinity Scott told commissioners the county purchased the property with a commercial note, $875,000 that covered engineering fees and environmental assessments, and staff appraised it at about $991,000.

Commissioners noted taxpayer money is involved and agreed they’d support the center’s purchase if the county could recoup its costs. Asta thanked them, saying she’d work on it. Tax records show the center had $674,480 in revenues and $574,208 in expenses last year.

Chief Ricardo told commissioners it’s surplus property only because his station saved the county money and was building elsewhere, so he alerted Asta and she offered him space as a partnership. “We gave up storage … but we need storage and community rooms, so we’re trying to work with them,” Ricardo said.

Gray tried to speak, but hadn’t filled out a required speaker slip, so Hall called a vote.

“I’m going to make a motion that we direct staff to get with the Gargiulo Education Center, work out the terms of the deal to bring back something that they can live with, something that we can live with — and it’s going to be somewhere close to that $991,000 figure,” Hall said.

Price tag increases

In an interview this week, Crystal Kinzel, the county’s comptroller, said Gray should have been allowed to speak and this situation is why she encourages the county to advertise all surplus land for sale.

“This provides equal opportunity for all interested parties and should result in greater recovery to the taxpayers,” Kinzel said, adding that commissioners should then follow state statutes involving such sales. “… Instead of doing a backroom plan with one organization, if you advertise it and you get everybody that might be a viable purchaser, then you’re making one decision — and it doesn’t feel as though anyone was slighted.”

The cost the county paid over the years must be recouped, not just the purchase price.

“Considerations for the recovery of taxpayer funds invested is prudent management,” she explained.

During public solicitations for property, she said, it’s also best to consider taxes that will be generated because selling the land to a nonprofit removes the land from the tax rolls.

“If you’re looking at sustainability, that’s an issue to consider because as [county] assets age, you will need money from ongoing sources to pay for repairs … and if we give away the land that would generate the tax base, then how are you going to sustain everything the county continues to own?” Kinzel asked.

As of this week, the county’s full costs stood at $1.094 million, an amount Asta must find a way to raise on top of construction costs.

Gargiulo students are tutored, get homework help and learn art, music, technology, entrepreneurship — even how to fly on flight simulators through the Young Eagles Naples program. They also learn how to volunteer and service their community. Once the center expands, doctors, dentists and others have offered to provide services there, and it would also like to have cooking and budgeting classes, as well as classes for parents.

Once the center is ready for construction, Asta said, she can apply for a grant. The grant, which needs Collier Community Foundation approval, must be spent within 12 months. The land is 0.07 miles away from the existing center, which had to cut programs due to its small capacity. The plan is to build a 6,000to 8,000-square-foot center close to the students’ homes, as it is now.

In a telephone interview, Gray, former mayor of the town of Ross, in Marin County, California, said he wanted to expand storage for his model train and antique car collection as a museum for educational purposes because he will go “up in smoke” someday. His foundation — also a reference to locomotive steam — funds historic train restoration and education, but Gray, a former Union Pacific executive, also funds other nonprofits, and owns a nationwide company that operates train terminals for containers and trailers.

Gray admitted learning about the center’s plans from gala attendees, but contended the land isn’t a good place for a school because children must cross busy Old 41 to get home. He suggested Gargiulo Inc., which has helped the center with its mortgage, provide property.

He also noted some commissioners believed the education center was currently on that property. It’s vacant with 4-foot-high weeds and needs to be filled in and developed — “a lot of work,” he said, noting the Town of Ross would never sell to the low bidder.

“We were always approached over charitable causes, and I kept saying — and I think others have said since, and before me and after me — that we’re stewards of the taxpayers’ money. We’re not a charitable institution,” Gray said, adding that he respects the commissioners’ decision. “It’s just not something I’m used to.”

Asta says the county did the right thing by agreeing to continue negotiations with the original party, noting, “He wants to build storage, and we fill a community need.”