The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has pledged $10 million to buy the La Quinta Inn & Suites at 3701 North University Drive in Coral Springs and convert the 1980s-era hotel into permanent housing for veterans. The property sits north of Sample Road.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Board will hear the proposal at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9. The foundation plans a 100-unit community it calls a Veteran Village for honorably discharged men and women. The total redevelopment is estimated to cost $20 million.
The site is zoned for multifamily housing, but the foundation needs conditional use approval to run it as a congregate living facility. It is also asking for exceptions to city rules on minimum unit size, landscaping and parking. Gavin Naples, executive vice president of the foundation’s Homeless Veteran Program, said the group has spent eight months working through the city’s approval process.
Naples told Coral Springs Talk that the purchase and full renovation are already funded. He expects the request to reach the Coral Springs City Commission in early December.
If approved, renovations would take 10 to 12 months, depending on how fast the city issues a building permit. The foundation hopes veterans can move in by early 2028.
The group also says it has two other Florida Veteran Villages due to open in 2027, in Bradenton and Jacksonville, and that construction is nearly complete on a 90-home project in Land O’Lakes.
