Slow growth stymies Monaghan’s Catholic town

It’s been seven years since Tom Monaghan, who founded Domino’s Pizza in Ann Arbor, piqued the world’s curiosity by announcing that he had bought 5,000 acres in Florida and intended to turn it into a model Catholic city. Today the town of Ave Maria, slow to attract residents, remains mostly a vision in Monaghan’s head. The St. Petersburg Times reports:

But while Ave Maria remains a source of inspiration for pilgrims who come to gaze and pray at one of Florida’s most impressive modern churches, its real estate sales are sluggishly earthbound.

Ave Maria’s projected population of 11,000 stands at about 500, give or take a few dozen. Pulte Homes, more or less the community’s exclusive builder, has slashed $100,000 from the prices on some models.

“In the beginning they had people lined up to buy here,” Hailer said. “Then Pulte got sideswiped. It hit the fan. Growth’s been okay but nothing like they anticipated.”…

Realtor Bob Campbell grew up Catholic in Bayonne, N.J., and has lived in Ave Maria about a year with his wife and child. The ex-Marine with an irreverent tongue still has an outsider’s take on the town.

Real estate’s dead, Campbell said. Buyers can almost name their price. The market collapse has left homes clustered in six neighborhoods, separated by quarter-mile stretches of dirt, grass and canal. As the town expands, the neighborhoods will grow to fill the void.

Monaghan’s plans include Ave Maria University, which has already moved from Naples, Florida to Ave Maria. And the Ave Maria Law School, which has been running for years in Ann Arbor, will be moving to Florida this summer and reopening in the old site of the university in Naples before a permanent facility is built in the town of Ave Maria.