Collier County Neighborhoods

Real estate experts note that Naples and Collier County have long enjoyed an upper-crust cachet. Wealthy Southerners from Kentucky and Tennessee can be credited with putting Naples on the map. Walter Haldeman, who owned the Louisville Courier Journal, discovered the charms of the area and purchased large tracts of land here in the 1890s; his former editor Henry Watterson stayed in Naples' historic Palm Cottage long before winning the Pulitzer Prize; and Memphis millionaire Barron Gift Collier built the Tamiami Trail in the 1920s to link Naples to Tampa and Miami.

Flash forward to the 1980s when the completion of I-75 and a new international airport in Fort Myers made Naples and Collier County easily accessible to winter-weary Midwesterners, wealthy dot-com pioneers, celebrities and others of means. Today Naples is one of the most sought-after destinations for a second home, prompting the rapid appreciation in home prices of recent years. Naples' median sales price of $495,500 for existing homes this past fall was the highest of the state's 20 metropolitan statistical areas.

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.

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005: Three single-family homes.

Price range: $430,000-$599,900.

What you get for $430,000: Two-bedroom, two-bath 1970s home with 1,245 square feet and a private pool.

What you get for $599,900: Three-bedroom, two-bath home, nearly 1,400 square feet, built in 1974.

Retired Midwesterners defined 1950s Bonita Shores, which still boasts that decade's small two-bedroom homes. But families with children have slowly taken over this working-class community west of U.S. 41, with an easy bike ride to the beach. Today mid-20th-century homes mix with newer Mediterranean architecture. With its homeowners association, Neighborhood Watch program and community clubhouse, Bonita Shores is one of those rare Florida communities-a place where you're likely to know your neighbors. West of West Avenue, Hickory Shores offers waterfront homes along Hickory Bay and finger streets jutting into the water. Buyers, of course, pay for the proximity to the bay.

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.

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005: 18 single-family homes and villas.

Price range $1,798,000-$6,995,000.

What you get for $1,798,000: Four-bedroom, four-bath canal-front home in Southport on the Bay, private dock and pool, 3,500 square feet.

What you get for $6,995,000: Four-bedroom, three-bath beachfront home on oversized lot, built in 1989, with 4,725 square feet, a private pool and private walkway to the beach.

The modest cottages that once personified the sleepy Barefoot Beach area have given way to towering three- and four-story Mediterranean- and Florida-style homes and a string of upscale villa and condo buildings with community associations, pools and gardens. Offering bay- and beachfront properties, Barefoot Beach is also home to a 342-acre state preserve where the public can enjoy the beach and view gopher tortoises, bottle-nosed dolphins and endangered sea turtles. Barefoot Beach becomes a gated community when the park closes

at dusk.

EVERGLADES CITY

S.R. 29 south from U.S. 41, within Everglades National Park.

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005

About 14 single-family and mobile homes and 45 resort condos and cabins.

Price range, single-family

$319,000-$1.5 million.

What you get for $319,000

Two-bedroom, one-bath stilt home on Copeland Avenue with an open deck.

What you get for $1.5 million

Two-bedroom, two-bath Riverside Drive waterfront home with garage workshop, fishpond with waterfall and screened porch overlooking the Barron River.

Price range, condo

$265,000-$590,000.

What you get for $265,000

Full-size one-bedroom, one-bath cabin with large lanai and boat ramp in Glades Haven Resort & Marina.

What you get for $590,000

Three-bedroom, pre-construction-priced condo with 1,600 square feet in The Estuary at Everglades City.

The former county seat, Everglades City has managed to escape most of the urban trappings of its neighbors to the north. Residents-mainly commercial fishermen, stone crabbers and relocated urbanites-pride themselves on what you won't find there: traffic lights, shopping malls, golf courses or high-rises. Measuring just four blocks wide and less than two miles long, Everglades City maintains a rural small-town flavor.

Building restrictions keep homes to just three stories, and a smattering of original buildings date back to the days of Barron Collier. Everglades City is also home to one of Florida's few remaining K-12 schools. And thanks to its location within the Ten Thousand Islands, it's a magnet for serious boaters and anglers. You'll find sportsmen's condos and cabins, along with developments in even more secluded locations on Plantation Island and the 150-acre Chokoloskee Island. E.C. and its surrounding locales are among the few places in Collier County with vacant properties for sale.

GOLDEN GATE CITY

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

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005

93 single-family homes, three condos.

Price range, single-family

$259,900-$439,000.

What you get for $259,900

Two-bedroom, one-bath home with 1,040 square feet and a den.

What you get for $439,000

Three-bedroom, two-bath home with 1,920 square feet; one of only 50 built on Lake Sapphire.

Price range, condo

$325,000-$369,900.

What you get for $325,000

Two-bedroom, one-bath attached duplex with 1,550 square feet.

What you get for $369,900

Two-bedroom, two-bath attached duplex, built in 2004, 1,100 square feet.

Like its more affordable Lee County cousin, Lehigh Acres, Golden Gate City is experiencing an influx of buyers from Miami and other South Florida cities, all eager to swap big-city comforts for a more affordable, less-taxing lifestyle. Although not an official city, Golden Gate has all the conveniences of a full-fledged municipality-library, fire and police services, and a satellite office for the Collier County Tax Collector-sprinkled among national chain and local mom-and-pop grocery stores and restaurants. You'll also find some canal- and lakefront homes.

GOLDEN GATE ESTATES

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

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005

524 single-family homes.

Price range

$259,000-$9.95 million.

What you get for $259,000

Three-bedroom, one-bath home with 985 square feet and palm-lined driveway.

What you get for $9.95 million

Six-bedroom, six-bath gated estate with 15,000 square feet of living space, on 20 acres.

Golden Gate Estates' 43,000-plus acres make it Collier's largest neighborhood, incorporating some gated communities closer to Naples. 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 prevent existing five-acre lots from being divided more than once. These large tracts attract equestrians, families with young children and those who want a little elbow room. As a general rule, property farther from Naples proper is less expensive.

IMMOKALEE

Toward the northeast corner of Collier County.

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005 None.

Home to an Indian reservation, a casino and an airport, Immokalee was settled in 1873 by hunters, trappers, cattlemen and traders. Today, it's a town of 20,000 year-round residents and numbers of seasonal migrants who work in nearby fields and live in trailer parks and tenant housing. But a new future for Immokalee is emerging, aided by Ave Maria University, the first new Catholic university to be built in the United States in 40 years. Scheduled to open its doors just 10 miles away from the town this year, the 5,025-acre site will include a full-fledged town with 11,000 homes.

IMMOKALEE ROAD RESIDENTIAL

From U.S. 41 east to Immokalee.

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005

143 single-family homes, 85 condos.

Price range, single-family

$389,900-$12 million.

What you get for $389,900

Three-bedroom, two-bath starter home in ungated Willoughby Acres, 1,770 square feet, large back yard.

What you get for $12 million

Home & Condo's 1995 Dream Home, "Inverlocky" was named for the famous Scottish castle because of its appointments and size-11,160 square feet, six bedrooms, eight baths on a two-acre site in Quail West Golf & Country Club.

Price range, condo

$239,000-$795,000.

What you get for $239,000

A 1,135-square-foot home with two bedrooms, two baths, located in Cocohatchee Manor, overlooking the Cocohatchee River.

What you get for $795,000

Second-floor condo in Grande Reserve in The Strand, two bedrooms, three baths, 2,400 square feet, golf and water views.

Old meets new in this emerging growth corridor. Pockets of '70s-era nongated residential neighborhoods with large lots and tree-lined streets are sprinkled among ultra-upscale (Collier's Reserve, Quail West and TwinEagles) and more family-oriented and affordable (Indigo Lakes, Ibis Cove, Saturnia Lakes and Pebblebrooke) gated communities. A widening project has been a harbinger for the eastern stretch of the road, bringing with it a renewed interest in living well east of I-75-one that's now accommodated by new shopping centers and grocery chains.

ISLES OF CAPRI

Off Isle of Capri Road and Capri Boulevard-the last right before the bridge to Marco Island-in the southeastern portion of Collier County.

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005

Two single-family homes, eight condos.

Prices, single-family

$499,000 and $750,000.

What you get for $499,000

A two-bedroom, two-bath home, with 1,100 square feet, built in 1973.

What you get for $750,000

Three-bedroom, two-bath home in need of some repairs, 2,000 square feet with estuary views, ideal for boater or angler.

Price range, condo

$624,900-$1,029,000.

What you get for $624,900

Furnished two-bedroom, three-bath mid-rise unit in La Peninsula with mirrored walls, fireplace, wet bar and whirlpool tub.

What you get for $1,029,000

A 2,090-square-foot three-bedroom, three-bath La Peninsula condo with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, large lanai with views of the Gulf. Fully furnished.

Isles of Capri is a charming chain of four islands that you access by a two-lane road that overlooks 600 acres of surrounding mangroves. Connected by land bridges, the islands were created in the mid-1950s by Tennessean Leland L. "Doc" Loach. Three have been set aside for residential; the fourth has restaurants, full-service marinas, a yacht club, vacation and annual rentals, and a general store. Colorful street names like Pago Pago, Kon Tiki and Jamaica remind travelers they're island hopping-even if they can't always see the water.

MARCO ISLAND

The northernmost and largest of the Ten Thousand Islands, bounded by the Gulf of Mexico and the Marco River.

On the Market

Properties for sale, winter 2005

308 single-family homes, 242 condos and timeshares.

Price range, single-family

$445,000-$12,900,000.

What you get for $445,000

A "valueless" house with three bedrooms, two baths and 1,635 square feet.

What you get for $12.9 million

The award-winning six-bedroom, 10-bath Villa Venezia, featuring authentic Italian architecture, fountains, extensive artwork and antiques, deep-water Gulf access and more than 14,000 square feet.

Price range, condo

$174,900-$12.9 million.

What you get for $174,900

A second-floor unit with one bedroom, one bath and 450 square feet located in the center-of-town Coquina Gardens complex.

What you get for $12.9 million

A grand penthouse in the new Belize high-rise with five bedrooms, eight baths, 13,525 square feet, six terraces, Gulf views and beachfront cabana with bathroom.

It's really no secret that Marco Islanders like to keep to themselves. If anything, they consider nearby Naples merely an amenity of their 24-square-mile island. But there's not much need to travel to the mainland. Marco Island has its own shops, medical facilities and weekend entertainment, a portion of it courtesy of Stan's Idle Hour in Goodland, where entrepreneurs and businessmen mingle with fishing folk each Sunday afternoon.

Marco has many personalities: turn-of-the-century charm in Old Marco, where late-1800s structures built by homesteader Capt. W.D. "Bill" Collier still stand; a more cosmopolitan presence along Collier Boulevard with its high-rise towers mingling with beachfront resort hotels; and grand estates built on the remnants of towering shell mounds built by the Calusa Indians, which place these homes 50 feet above sea level.

Sixty percent of Marco's homes are on the water-the Marco River, the Gulf, canals and the surrounding bays and estuaries-and water is the main attraction. Water brought brothers Elliott, Robert and Frank Mackle here in the 1960s. Their Deltona Corp. devised an island city of more than 12,000 home sites, 125 miles of paved roads, 90 miles of navigable canals, retail and hotels, schools, churches and medical facilities, even a Gulf beach.

Goodland

A rounded peninsula on southeastern Marco Island surrounded by Goodland Bay, Coon Key Pass and Gullivan Bay.