Collier County's neighborhoods: Bonita to Marco

BONITA SPRINGS

Bonita Shores

Bounded by Bonita Beach Road to the north, West Avenue to the west, Vanderbilt Drive to the east and Audubon Country Club to the south.

In the early 1940s, small lots in Bonita Shores cost as little as $250. Today, few vacant lots remain, and those that do are priced 200 times that. Once home to mostly retired Midwesterners content with two bedrooms, one bath and no garage, Bonita Shores has gradually become a little less gray, today luring young families with $250,000 to $300,000 homes relatively close to the beach and west of U.S. 41. "Bonita Shores is becoming a bedroom community for everyone else," says Wes Brodersen of Exit Gulder Real Estate in Bonita Springs. "Now, it's mostly year-round residents, older, younger. It's one of those places where you're likely to know your neighbors."

One street west of West Avenue you'll find Hickory Shores and its waterfront homes along Little Hickory Bay and finger streets jutting into the bay. Prices reflect this proximity to the water-from the $590,000s to nearly $2.2 million, says Brodersen.

Barefoot Beach

Bounded by Bonita Beach Road to the north, the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Barefoot Beach Preserve to the south and Little Hickory Bay to the east.

Nestled between the crushed-shell beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and a 342-acre state preserve where the public is welcome to view its more popular residents-gopher tortoises, bottle-nosed dolphins, and even endangered sea turtles-Barefoot Beach offers beach and bayfront condominiums, villas, cottages, and enormous Mediterranean and Florida-style homes. A dwindling supply of vacant lots means prices are increasing. Undeveloped single-family homesites on the beach are going from $2 million to $5 million, according to Kathy Vlahovic, an agent with Naples Realty Services and a Barefoot Beach resident. The buyers of a $10 million Gulf-front property, she says, plan to tear down the structure and divide the property into two lots. As of late fall, Vlahovic says few properties-with or without homes-were available. "There's literally nothing on the market."

The gated communities of Southport on the Bay, with 106 lots, and Bayfront Gardens, with 35 homes, lie farther south along Barefoot Beach Boulevard on peninsulas jutting into Little Hickory Bay. Both offer direct Gulf access. Bayfront homesites that sold for $170,000 just seven years ago are closing in on the $2 million mark and off-water homes from $800,000 to $3 million, says Vlahovic.

"Our early homes were modest cottages," says Nick Fontana of Barefoot Beach Realty. "Over the years, the homes have become bigger and more expensive to reflect the shifting demographics." Fontana, who has been specializing in Barefoot Beach property since 1987, has seen home prices appreciate substantially. He's sold one mid-1980s home on a double Gulf-front lot three times, getting $1.2 million the first time on the market and $7.85 million three years ago. The latest owners, he says, plan to tear it down and build two homes.

Though active single-family listings ranged from $1.19 million to nearly $8 million in late 2004, Fontana noted that buyers could still get into Barefoot for under $1 million. A handful of units

in the Villas at Barefoot Beach-really a series of three-story townhomes-were priced from $799,000 to $1.23 million. And condos within the dozen seven-story buildings of Barefoot Beach Club, offering 348 units from 1,600 to 2,400 square feet, were priced from $775,000 to nearly $1.5 million, Fontana says.

EVERGLADES CITY

State Road 29 south from U.S. 41 within Everglades National Park.

The former county seat, Everglades City has managed to escape most of the urban trappings of its neighbors to the north. It doesn't have a single traffic light, shopping mall, golf course or high-rise-and residents are darn proud of that. Measuring just four blocks wide and less than two miles long, Everglades City also doesn't have any beaches. What it does have is a rural, small-town flavor, building restrictions that keep homes to just three stories, and some of the best boating and fishing around-factors that are attracting serious boaters and anglers in droves. Most, says Jan Brock, broker/owner of Glades Realty, will buy property, use it as a weekend getaway and eventually make a full-time move, joining EC's 600-or-so other full-timers. She ought to know. She followed the same well-worn path some 35 years ago. "You have to like the old Florida way of life," says Brock, a resident since 1980. "You know you can't be at the mall in five minutes and you really don't care."

Deep within the famed Ten Thousand Islands, EC's offerings run the gamut-from starter condos priced around $150,000 and inland lots at $155,000 to more than $1 million for select single-family, large-lot homes with deep-water access (two of the most important words to buyers). "There's really no average price here," says Brock. "There are quite a few newer homes that are more high-end. And there are the older, original homes Barron Collier built for his workers. They've been preserved and restored." Scattered throughout town are other original buildings: the late-1800s Rod & Gun Club (still open), the bank, courthouse and the laundry (now a museum) used by Collier's workers during construction of the Tampa-to-Miami road. Everglades City is also home to one of Florida's few remaining kindergarten-through-12 schools.

Brock notes that one of her recent listings falls just short of a cool million dollars. Offered at $999,000, this Everglades City property features coveted deep-water access, two docks for 30-foot boats and an 18-month-old, three-bedroom, two-bath home with 2,600 square feet. Twenty-eight of the planned 40 condos Brock is selling at The Estuary, a gated community with docks and lanais with water views, were already reserved just two months after the developer finalized its purchase of the property. Priced from $300,000 to $400,000, the condos, says Brock, "are considered high-end for Everglades City."

RV-sized cabins at Glades Haven Resort & Marina are "also selling like hotcakes," she says. "I just sold one for $142,000 and have another listed for $189,000."

Pleasure Island, a 4.2-acre island in the Barron River, offers 30 waterfront cottages geared to sportsmen (boating, fishing and hunting) and nature lovers who will love the setting. The Old Florida homes, offering two bedrooms and two-and-one-half baths, start at around $500,000. The Everglades Outpost Resort & Marina, combining 96 condos, a 125-room hotel, marina and convention center/lodge, is under construction.

Prices, says Brock, are also on the rise on Plantation Island, located to the east of town and offering a manufactured-home subdivision. Mobile home lots that once sold for $30,000 are now $130,000. Available homes are "$165,000 to $350,000, and we're taking about a mobile home," she says. "But it's on the water. And they're selling after the hurricanes."

Property is also getting hard to come by on Chokoloskee Island, a 150-acre island to the south and home to the historic Smallwood Store. Lots tend to be smaller and less expensive here, says Brock. "I sold a lot on a canal for $275,000 before I even could get the sign up."

"More people are finding us," says Brock. "We're getting a lot of full-timers, weekenders and winter residents. People are coming from Marco Island. A recent visitor told me he couldn't believe this place. It was like stepping back into time."

GOLDEN GATE CITY

Bounded by Green Boulevard to the north, Santa Barbara Boulevard to the west, State Road 951 to the east and the main Golden Gate Canal to the south.

Like its more affordable Lee County cousin, Lehigh Acres, Golden Gate City is attracting buyers from Miami and other South Florida cities who are content to swap big-city comforts for a more affordable lifestyle. This unofficial city offers plenty of leeway-from about $150,000 for a three-bedroom, two-bath home with an average 1,200 square feet to one recent $350,000 listing, a newer three-bedroom, three-bath home overlooking Lake Sapphire. Of course, there's plenty in between, including condos and villas. Lots are appreciating in value as supply dwindles-up from $15,000 just a few years ago to $60,000 for a standard 80-by-125-foot lot and more for the few remaining canal-front properties. Golden Gate City has all the conveniences of a full-fledged municipality-library, fire and police services, and a satellite office for the Collier County Tax Collector. National chain and local mom-and-pop grocery stores and restaurants operate nearby.

GOLDEN GATE ESTATES

Stretching from just west of Interstate 75 at Pine Ridge Road north to Immokalee Road, east to Desoto Boulevard and south past Interstate 75 as it becomes Alligator Alley and jogs west-to-east.

At roughly 43,000-plus acres, Golden Gate Estates is Collier's largest neighborhood, incorporating gated communities like The Vineyards and Wyndemere Country Club and a new entry: Zuckerman Homes' Mariposa, a town- and coach-home community with prices starting in the low $200,000s. The Estates, as it's known by locals, has a history similar to many of its neighbors: swampland tamed into canal-front lots. Many of the area's original five-acre lots have been subdivided multiple times, resulting in 1.25-acre tracts. New restrictions, however, prevent existing five-acre lots from being divided more than once.

"People want to get away from having neighbors," says Bruce Farrell, self-proclaimed Estates king and a realtor with Century 21. "They want a big home out in the country." Collier County's real estate rule of thumb-the closer to Naples proper, the higher the price tag-certainly applies to the Estates, says Farrell. A 2.5-acre lot on prime Logan or Oakes boulevards that would have sold for $20,000 nearly 20 years ago now fetches more than 10 times that. Even a similarly sized Everglades Boulevard lot toward the eastern fringe of the Estates recently snagged $50,000. Homes are priced from the low $300,000s to well over $1 million. A recent $2.8 million listing, dubbed a "horse lover's dream," offered an eight-stall horse barn with four foaling stalls, six grassy paddocks, a riding arena with viewing gazebo and a home with "too many upgrades to mention."

IMMOKALEE

Toward the northeast corner of Collier County.

Three roads converge at a triangular intersection to form the heart of Immokalee, which was settled in 1873 by hunters, trappers, cattlemen and traders. A town of 20,000 year-round residents, Immokalee has a history steeped in agriculture-mainly cattle, oranges and tomatoes. Like many Southwest Florida towns, Immokalee also has a seasonal influx of part-time residents-migrant workers who follow the harvest-and regulars to the casino. Much of the town's real estate consists of rental units (some rundown) and ranches. But a new future may unfold; Ave Maria University, the first new Catholic university to be built in the country in 40 years, will open its doors just 10 miles away by 2006.

IMMOKALEE ROAD RESIDENTIAL

From U.S. 41 east to the county line.

Gated communities like Collier's Reserve and pockets of ungated residential streets off Piper Boulevard, running parallel to Immokalee Road, appear amid the newer strip shopping centers and office buildings dotting the growing corridor of Immokalee Road. One recent entry, the 48-condo project, Remington Reserve, next to Collier's Reserve near U.S. 41, surprised even eagle-eye Naples broker Ross W. McIntosh, who makes a living finding developable land.

"There's always a piece of property you don't know is there," he says. Another new west-of-the interstate development is Pulte Homes' 60-acre, 350-townhome project at Milano, which McIntosh says reported 1,500 pre-registrations and 128 sales on opening day.

As developable land west of the interstate dwindles, more gated communities-many geared to families (Indigo Lakes, Ibis Cove, Saturnia Lakes and Pebblebrooke)-have popped up along with the large Gulf Coast High School to the east of the interstate. Upscale communities east of I-75 include Olde Cypress, The Estates at TwinEagles and Quail West. Immokalee Road east of the interstate, says McIntosh, "is the really big news in Collier County." Recent acquisitions, he reports, include an apartment-to-condo conversion project at the former Key Royal Apartments, the $7 million Amberton development of 296 townhomes, Centex Homes' 2,000-home The Quarry on 1,729 acres, and Tuscany Cove, which reported 77 of its 294 homes sold the first week. Also look for the rezoning of the Orange Blossom Ranch for 1,600 homes on 660 acres at Oil Well Road and a potential development by Elias Brothers in the northeastern corner of the county.