Bonita Springs sits between Naples and Fort Myers, and the work there looks different from either. Much of it is inside buildings that already exist: amenity levels in residential towers, office floors being reconfigured for a new tenant, clubhouses that were built for a different generation of residents and need to serve this one.
Luca Architects works throughout Lee County from the Naples office, a short drive south. Two current Bonita Springs projects show the range.
Amenity levels and community buildings
The Palermo amenities level on Pelican Colony Boulevard covers the fitness room, lobby and residents’ lounge inside an existing building. Amenity work has a particular difficulty: the spaces serve everyone in the community, so the brief arrives through a board rather than from one client, and the finished rooms have to suit a wide range of ages and uses without feeling generic.
The approach is to sort the programme before the finishes. Where people arrive, where they wait, where they socialise and where they want to be left alone are plan decisions. Once those are right, the material palette follows and can be modest without the space feeling thin.
Commercial and tenant fit-out work
Trak America relocated into two floors on Riverview Center Boulevard, 15,000 square feet in total, with interior design provided for the CEO and executive area alongside the base fit-out. Office fit-outs in Lee County follow the same discipline as anywhere: read the lease and the landlord criteria before drawing, survey the existing conditions honestly, and set the plan around what cannot move.
The permitting environment is its own factor. Lee County and the City of Bonita Springs have their own review processes and timelines, and a project that assumes Collier County’s schedule will miss its dates. Establishing the real sequence at the start is part of the work.
Residential and coastal conditions
Lee County shares Collier’s climate and its hazards. Wind-borne debris requirements, flood elevations, summer sun on west and south elevations, and rainfall that has to be managed on the lot. Hurricane Ian made the stakes plain along this stretch of coast. Designing for those conditions from the first sketch, rather than adding protection afterwards, produces better buildings and fewer surprises in permitting.
How the practice works
Mali Torriero has practised for 25 years, holds licences in Florida, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, and became a certified Passive House Designer in 2016. She goes to the construction site regularly and works directly with the contractors, which shortens the distance between a question and its answer.
Bonita Springs and Lee County projects
Common questions
Do you work in Lee County as well as Collier?
Yes. Bonita Springs, Estero and the corridor north to Fort Myers are within the practice’s regular working area, and permitting differs from Collier County in both process and review times.
What kinds of Bonita Springs projects have you done?
Amenity level work at Palermo on Pelican Colony Boulevard, and a two-floor tenant fit-out with executive interior design for Trak America on Riverview Center Boulevard.
Can you work with an HOA or condominium association?
Yes. Association work involves presenting to boards and committees, designing within governing documents, and coordinating construction around residents who are living in the building throughout.