IMMOKALEE, Fla. " The recession has a stranglehold on much of southwest Florida, but billionaire Thomas Monaghan's vision for the 1,100-seat church and the Roman Catholic school, Ave Maria University, he created continues to take shape, even if construction isn't progressing as quickly as he had hoped.
The 72-year-old founder of the Domino's Pizza chain had hoped to have a gym built for the basketball team by now. He and the town's developer also expected to see more than the 300 or so houses and condos that have gone up, and more restaurants and stores open in the town center surrounding the towering church.
And plans to erect one of the largest freestanding crucifixes in the world " 65 feet tall, with a 40-foot body of Christ " on the church grounds had to be put on hold.
"Our timing has been terrible," Monaghan said. "But we're pretty well-heeled, so we're able to absorb it, and we just cut back."
Considering these were far-flung fields of tomatoes and sod just three years ago, there has been great progress. Monaghan, who holds the title of university chancellor, figures he's put more than $400 million of his pizza fortune into developing what he likes to call a "spiritual military academy" amid a new town steeped in conservative Catholic teaching and symbolism.
A large classroom building, library, three residence halls and student union with dining hall accommodate 697 students this year, up from 367 when the doors opened in fall 2007. School officials say enrollment could top 900 this fall.
Monaghan and developer Barron Collier Cos., which donated the land for the campus to persuade him to build here, still believe Ave Maria will grow in the next two decades to fulfill initial expectations: 5,500 students living in a bustling town of 25,000 residents.
"I don't have any concerns at all about where we are," says Blake Gable, the project manager for Barron Collier. "Everything that we did here was taking a look at this community where it sits 50 years from now, not today."