Set within swaying coconut palms and refreshing pools of clear, sparkling water, The Players Club and Spa is a luxurious tropical paradise nestled in the heart of Lely Resort in Naples, Florida. It is an exclusive, membership only, 15-acre oasis where Lely Resort's residents can relax, meet new people, and enjoy a wide variety of amenities and recreational facilities. STOCK Development purchased 340 acres in Lely Resort's southern half in 2001, and revived development of the resort by helping to create a thriving community center and emphasizing the relaxed and upscale golfing lifestyle of the resort. As home sales in the area soared, the potential benefits of developing and expanding The Players Club and Spa quickly became evident. Waldrop Engineering, PA, was soon commissioned by STOCK Development to design the outdoor spaces of this opulent retreat, and in 2012, master planning of the site to expand it from its original version began.

The Clubhouse itself is a sprawling 30,000 square foot gem, and features fine and casual dining, a state-of-the-art fitness center, spa services, a theatre, game room, and has an extensive social calendar of events for guests of all ages. Outside, the club boasts three large swimming pools - a lagoon pool, family pool, and a fitness pool - a spa, a poolside tiki bar and grill, abundant spaces for outdoor dining, a fireplace feature and a spectacular tennis complex, all surrounded by tastefully lighted, lush tropical landscaping. The Tennis Center boasts twelve lighted tennis courts, a stadium court for exhibition play, two pickleball courts, a half-basketball court, and a full-service pro shop.
Waldrop Engineering's initial challenges included re-inventing an already successful space to achieve a resort-like character, as establishing the subtleties of this transformation was just as critical as realizing the more obvious programming components. The team was tasked with defining the relationships of spaces, both large and small, and how they work together, shaping a comfortable and spacious pedestrian flow for a relaxed walking experience, and conceiving a lengthy repertoire of delightful hardscape and landscape details, all harmonized with the thoughtful placement and orientation of major site components. Richly landscaped meandering pathways guide guests towards wonderous and mysterious destinations throughout the club's grounds and open up to dramatic vistas and focal points. Shaded outdoor dining spaces adjacent to the clubhouse gently give way to both active and passive recreational spaces.

 
A 2,500-square-foot, family-oriented resort style swimming pool was added by Serenity Pools and Spas near the Club's two existing swimming pools, increasing the overall swimming pool bathing load by 135 individuals. This pool boasts two separate beach entries, a massive walk-through, faux rock water feature, a sandy beach area with chaise loungers and hammocks strung between curved coconut palms, and a 'swaying coconut' water play feature positioned at a depth of 12" and a spectacular view of the Lely Resort Golf and Country club's championship golf course. A large thatched roof chickee pavilion, three pool-side cabanas and two dozen transplanted coconut palms provide abundant shade for guests. Smaller palm species, gingers, sea grapes, hibiscus, cannas and a rich blend of other exotic and native plants form a delightfully composed tropical landscape palette.
Of all the considerations necessary for expanding and enhancing the club's existing outdoor facilities, the Tennis Center had the most significant impact on master planning for the site. The original building was overused and declining, and in need of expansion and refurbishing. The entire Tennis Center was relocated from the eastern side of the site to the western side, and required parking was designed in the vacated space. Waldrop's civil engineering team led the permitting and construction administration efforts for this campaign, while the landscape architecture team provided site planning and enhancement. The feature tennis court, designed and positioned to maximize attendance and accessibility for tournament and exhibition play, is a stadium-style structure outfitted with concrete paver decking with ledgestone cladding and beautifully crafted precast concrete trim and is flanked by massive pedestals capped with large decorative pottery, and is shaded by tall coconut palms. Although the new Tennis Center's impressive array of professional-level courts required a substantial area, a gridded network of colorfully-paved walkways provides easy access to all courts, and a variety of canopy palms and tropical understory plantings offers the same beachy visual appeal consistently found throughout the site.

Just south of the tennis center lie four regulation size, irrigated bocce ball courts, with raised curbing and boards. Concrete paver walkways surrounding each court with spacious thatched-roof shade chickees at both ends of each court. Coconut and Alexander palms provide plenty of shade, and dense hedges of clusia guttifera define each side of the space and offer privacy for intimate gatherings of players. Behind the shade chickees, players enjoy rows of pink standard-form hibiscus and layers of varying palm and bromeliad species, all creating a delightful composition of form, color and texture.

One of the true diamonds of the club is the feature fireplace, an immense masterpiece of luxury outdoor living, with the main structure being nearly 17 feet wide and nine and a half feet tall with a copper-capped chimney topping out at over 21 feet above finished grade. An integrated seat wall, flanked at each end with bromeliad-filled urns, allows guests to cozy up close to the fire during those rare chilly Southwest Florida evenings. 'Wisconsin Blend' ledgestone cladding and an abundance of decorative precast concrete trim provide remarkable softness to such a substantial feature. Beneath the spectacular finishes, Waldrop outfitted the fireplace with an outdoor fireplace firebox and dual module chimney system, all supplemented with layers of firebrick on the interior floor and walls, ensuring that the fireplace meets all requirements of the Florida Building Code. The finishing touch is a 54" wide, programmable, natural gas fire log system.
All of the club's grounds are immaculately landscaped and irrigated by Stahlman Landscape and Property. Stahlman meticulously implemented Waldrop's design plans, planting nearly 150 palms, over 80 canopy and mid-story trees, and almost 10,000 shrubs and groundcovers, including over 1,700 bromeliads spanning a variety of over 20 species. Notable landscape specimens include a gorgeous 24' tall multi-trunked 'pygmy-nata' hybrid palm (Phoenix reclinata x roebelenii), a perfectly proportioned 20' tall, five-trunked Carnarvon Gorge fan palm (Livistonia nitda), and a massive 20' tall multi-trunked 'Recli-vester' hybrid palm (Phoenix reclinata x sylvestris), sourced from an Old Naples golf course, that anchor the north side of the new family swimming pool area.

Stahlman-England Irrigation was tasked with installing a complex secondary drainage network designed by Waldrop, laying hundreds of linear feet of ADS pipe, and utilizing dozens of inlet structures, to ensure that the club's grounds adequately captured and conveyed Southwest Florida's substantial summer rains and occasional tropical storms. Stahlman-England also installed the Waldrop-designed landscape lighting system, consisting of over a hundred low-voltage uplights and pathlights, as well as dozens of GFCI receptacles for providing electricity for holiday lighting and other uses.

The Players Club and Spa is truly a sparkling jewel for all the residents and guests of Lely Resort to behold, and Waldrop Engineering's thoughtful creativity, clever detailing and meticulously orchestrated construction services shine brightly behind the scenes of this ultra-successful resort.