Your guide to Lee County neighborhoods: Estero to Gateway

A little farther south of the Alico Road boundary, gated communities like The Harbourage, Shadow Wood Preserve and Breckenridge Golf & Tennis Club mingle with neighborhoods of modest and upscale homes on the west side of U.S. 41, some offering access to the Estero River, Estero Bay and Hendry Creek. San Carlos Park is on the east side of 41. Alva resident and realtor Todd Lauer is representing a new development along Mullock Creek. The yet-to-be- named community will offer 23 one-acre homesites, some with waterfront, and all with water access.

West Fort Myers, Summerlin/Iona-McGregor

From Whiskey Creek west along McGregor Boulevard and the Caloosahatchee River to the Sanibel Causeway toll booths.

Whiskey Creek, a sprawling, 1,500-home subdivision dating from 1969, borders its namesake creek off McGregor Boulevard, stretches southward to College Parkway from the northwestern boundary of Fort Myers and offers an executive golf course and a mix of condos, 55-and-older multifamily housing and single-family homes. "Whiskey Creek is a great family neighborhood," says Smalley. "It's one of the least expensive neighborhoods for people with kids."

Rawlings, who's lived in Whiskey Creek for more than 25 years, "back when Cape Coral looked like the moon," says the community has evolved from a seasonal retreat into a year-round neighborhood with an enviable location near Edison Community College and the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. Whiskey Creek buyers can find condos priced around $100,000 and newer homes from $500,000 to $800,000. Older homes, built by Michigan Homes and Arthur Rutenberg at the same time as Naples' prestigious Moorings community, come on the market at a fraction of the price of their Collier County counterparts. Rawlings recently sold a three-bedroom, 2,200-square-foot 1970s home on the golf course for $249,000-about one-third of the asking price in Naples, yet nearly four times its original $65,000. Buyers will also see some new construction and waterfront teardown opportunities, says Rawlings.

West of Whiskey Creek, buyers find a new double-gated community and older, much larger neighborhoods such as Palmetto Point and Pepper-tree Point. At Palmetto Point, which pokes into the flank of the Caloosahatchee, homes on a manmade inlet begin at about $800,000. At nearby Peppertree Point, they range from the low $100,000s to $1 million. A dominant point on the landscape is Harbor Place Vistas, a community of high-rise condominiums offering about 1,850 feet of living space overlooking the river. Prices range from $223,000 to $481,000. Shaddelee Lane, which skirts the riverbank, is one of the more expensive neighborhoods, prized for its river views, big oak trees, large yards and older stately homes. "You can still buy a pretty nice home on the river for $1.3 million," says Rawlings.

A long neighborhood, west Fort Myers and Iona-McGregor, travels south along McGregor toward the Sanibel Causeway. Older neighborhoods like Town & Country offer sailboat-worthy deep-water canals with access to the Caloosahatchee and older homes that are closing in on the $1 million mark on the riverside. Michaele Stahl, an agent with Prudential Florida, calls WCI Communities' nearby Gulf Harbour Yacht & Country Club on McGregor a "hidden gem." The 547-acre gated community offers the best of both worlds-golf and a riverfront marina-and prices for just about every pocketbook, from $200,000 to more than $6 million. Condos, says Stahl, are one-quarter the price of comparable units in Naples.

Farther along McGregor on arterial roads that link it to U.S. 41, development is proceeding at a feverish pace, especially near the HealthPark hospital off of Summerlin Road. Big-time developers and builders like Transeastern Homes, Taylor Woodrow and Centex Homes are developing smaller infill areas, usually less than 75 acres and offering a mix of coach and single-family homes.

FORT MYERS BEACH

North of Bonita Beach, west of San Carlos Boulevard. Also known as Estero Island.

For decades the Beach, as locals call it, remained unincorporated, serving as a homeport for fishermen-mainly shrimpers-and a resort destination for vacationers lured by its 1950s-era hotels. Just eccentric enough to attract the likes of James Jones, who penned part of his first and most famous novel, The Thin Red Line, in a hotel room here five decades ago, Fort Myers Beach long had a reputation as a party town, with a nearly round-the-clock flow of automobile and pedestrian traffic along neon-painted Estero Boulevard and Times Square. It's been designated the annual Spring Break destination for Cincinnati firefighters and some Midwestern universities. But buyers and investors are finding beach- and bayfront (Estero Bay and Matanzas Pass) homes for sale among the plethora of weekly and monthly rentals, and new buildings with more sophisticated residents are replacing older buildings. The summer of 2004's intense hurricane season hasn't slowed things down here.

Some 80 small streets stretch outward on both sides of Estero Boulevard, offering bay- and beachfront cottages, condos and single-fam-ily homes. Many of the city's 10,000 residents live on these side streets, mostly hidden from tourists' view. The median 2003 prices of $335,000 are also a memory as homes climb closer to the half-million-dollar mark. Visible from the Sky Bridge on the north end of the island is a redevelopment renaissance beginning at the Snug Harbor Waterfront Restaurant, at the base of the seven-story timeshare rising above it. Fountains and brick-paved walkways give the colorful shopping and eating district a pedestrian-friendly feel.

GATEWAY/DANIELS PARKWAY

From Daniels Parkway to State Road 82.

Bounded on the south by the Daniels Parkway Extension (where periodic signs warn passersby of crossing panthers, and low-flying jets head for Southwest Florida International Airport), Gateway is a city of its own, created by WCI Communities in the early 1990s. Now the development covers 5,000 acres and includes almost 800 acres of commercially zoned property. It includes 1,800 homes, with final buildings now under construction, and reaches from Daniels Parkway north all the way to S.R. 82. Home prices range from the $100,000s to above $1 million.

Residents enjoy easy access to the airport, downtown Fort Myers and the cross-river bridges that have opened up development and work opportunities in Cape Coral. West of the interstate, more established communities like Fiddlesticks, Cross Creek and Legends have been joined by Renaissance, offering coach, villa and single-family homes priced from $275,000 to more than $1 million. And the recent purchase of the Majorca Luxury Apart-ment Complex near Daniels and Plantation parkways will convert the 248 units there into condos.

Farther south, the Colonial Boulevard corridor, stretching east from the Caloosahatchee River to Lehigh Acres, is beginning to see a flurry of construction, thanks in part to a new Wal-Mart and other retail development. Benderson Development Co. recently purchased a large tract between Interstate 75 and Ben C. Pratt/Six Mile Cypress Parkway and plans to build 1,000 homes and 1 million square feet of commercial space. It will join two-year-old Colonial Country Club east of Interstate 75, which recorded 90 sales in June 2004. Ryland Homes is also planning 428 homes at The Forum. Transeastern Homes' Olympia Pointe will be built on 133 acres east of the interstate, and Beazer Homes' Sherwood calls for 245 single-family homes within 70.5 acres. Look for new homes west of the interstate, as well, says McIntosh.