The land is near 7,271-acre Collier-Seminole State Park, one of the world’s largest mangrove swamps, and 1,300-acre Rookery Bay Reserve, a mangrove estuary that protects wildlife, coastland and water.

The property is currently zoned Rural Agricultural District in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District and only allows up to one home per acre. The settlement allows 4.5 units per acre, up to 369 multi- or single-family homes or both. Prior plans allowed three homes per acre, up to 247 single-family homes.

“We've had to house 20 or 30 at a time. ...With two theaters running at the same time, it is incumbent upon us to have 54 beds this year — and that number could continue to grow. ... Many of our apartments ... are two-bedroom apartments, and even though they're twobedroom, two-bath, they still don't want to share an apartment with someone else.”