The subtropical landscape of Southwest Florida has long attracted those seeking a second home. They are drawn to world-class golf courses, boating and water sports on the Gulf of Mexico, as well as fine restaurants and shops.
A variety of towns and cities line the coast — from laid-back Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach in Manatee County at the mouth of Tampa Bay, to the “Cultural Coast” of Sarasota; from Sanibel Island’s shell-rich beaches, to the “Platinum Coast” of Naples and Marco Island in Collier County.
The flavor, and even the weather, varies significantly from Bradenton to Naples. In Collier County, they brag that when a cold front blows through in winter, their temperatures are 10 or 15 degrees warmer than Sarasota’s. And plants that will grow in subtropical Fort Myers or Marco Island won’t survive the occasional freezes in Bradenton or Palmetto.
Yet despite the threat of hurricanes, the cost of home insurance and other problems, about a thousand people move to Florida each day, many of them to Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier Counties.
A dozen brokers recently interviewed agreed that it is a buyer’s market. In most communities, the number of homes listed for sale has tripled or even quintupled as investors have been trying to unload properties. The high end — $2 million or more — is perhaps the strongest segment of the market, local brokers say, because investors generally stayed away from prices that high. But sellers have not brought the prices down to where a lot of buyers thought they would.
Activity is picking up only where houses are priced below what people consider the market price, said Beth Barnett of Coldwell Banker in east Manatee County’s Lakewood Ranch community.
Linked by the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) , since the 1920’s and Interstate 75 since the 1980’s, the dominant cities are Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples. Some buyers who have found Naples’s “Platinum Coast” too expensive — the median home price there is $500,000 and prices in the millions are commonplace — are going north to Sarasota, where the prices are lower and the cultural amenities are more numerous.
Between these two pricey markets, Charlotte County is the affordable alternative. Bargain-seeking investors and second-home buyers discovered it after Hurricane Charley hit in August 2004. Waterfront prices are still half those found in Sarasota and Naples.
In booming Lee County, where real estate prices are lower overall than in both Sarasota and Naples, luxury golf-course communities seem to be going up on every corner in the southern half of the county. Fort Myers’s downtown, which is now undergoing a makeover, is attracting high-rise condominium developers. And once-sleepy Bonita Springs is sprouting luxury high-rises. Here’s how it looks, going from north to south:
Bradenton/Palmetto
A historic town where Hernando De Soto is said to have landed in 1539, Bradenton has a small-town feel, yet is just a 30-minute drive from the big-city amenities of Tampa and St. Petersburg to the north. A Saturday farmer’s market is held on Old Main Street, which has several restaurants. In March, the Pittsburgh Pirates move into McKechnie Field, a vintage ballpark, for spring-training baseball.
The Promenade at Riverwalk condominium project, with units from $405,000 to $751,000, links downtown to the Manatee River. Riverview Boulevard, which runs along the river, is west of downtown and has large homes on big lots with prices reaching close to $4 million. Bradenton’s disadvantage is that it is a seven-mile drive, sometimes taking 30 minutes, from downtown to the beaches of Anna Maria.
Anna Maria/Holmes Beach/Bradenton Beach
These coastal communities on Anna Maria Island have a beach-town feel. Prices range from $300,000 to $1.9 million for condos and $400,000 to $2.3 million for houses. Boating and water sports are the main attractions, and the beaches are wide and long. Bradenton Beach is not at all pretentious; witness these T-shirts in a boutique on Historic Bridge Street: “Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder,” and “Bradenton Beach: A quaint drinking village with a fishing problem.”
It is doubtful that buyers at the proposed Boca Del Mer condominiums will be picnicking with their families under the shady Australian pines at the nearby public beach — the 14 luxury units, in the ubiquitous Mediterranean revival style, will be priced from $1.7 million. But they will still be surrounded, at least for a while, by beach motels and rentals serving a different market.
Palmetto
Facing Bradenton on the north side of the Manatee River, Palmetto lies between the river and nearby Tampa Bay to the north. It does not have a wealthy reputation, and it is beach-less, but it is moving on up: A dolomite-mining pit has been converted into an 80-acre yacht basin with 400 slips at the Riviera Dunes development. It mixes new, water-view, mid-rise condominiums (Laguna at Riviera Dunes), two new high-rises (Bel Mare) and new luxury single-family homes. In downtown Palmetto, one can enjoy a stroll along the Manatee Riverwalk, past the 1899 J.A. Lamb House, a Queen Anne Victorian that was restored in 1996. Palmetto has the feel of a small, old Southern town that is on the rise.
Ellenton and Parrish
To the east on U.S. 301, the Ellenton and Parrish communities are booming with single-family home construction around Prime Outlets, a regional shopping destination. Homes here are among the most affordable, starting in the mid-$200,000’s. Residents in the new subdivisions going up around this rural village tend to be year-round families.
East Manatee
For those who want the golf lifestyle, East Manatee is appealing. At Heritage Harbour, houses in the golf-course community range from $300,000 to $800,000. Waterlefe Golf & River Club offers golf and “grand estate” homes of 4,600 to 5,800 square feet. Prices are about $2 million to $3 million. The golf course at the Concession, a new development, has been rated by the Florida State Golf Association as the toughest in the state. The Nicklaus family is developing an enclave of 33 houses there, Nicklaus Manor, priced in the mid-$2 millions. Nearby, the Ritz-Carlton Members Club gives members and guests of the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, a chance to play a Tom Fazio-designed golf course.
Lakewood Ranch
Lakewood Ranch is a 7,000-acre planned community. It attracts many seasonal residents with homes that range from low-rise condominiums to large new estates priced at up to $6 million. With 6,500 homes sold in its first 10 years, the Ranch is home to a number of professional athletes because it is a short commute for players with Tampa Bay’s three professional sports teams, and athletes in general like Florida’s lack of a state income tax. But perhaps the best-known celebrity resident is the bombastic college basketball commentator Dick Vitale. His 12,000-square-foot mansion on two lots in the Country Club section has been the scene of some notable fund-raising parties.
The 1,500-acre Lake Club is the newest addition. The clubhouse will house a day spa and a concierge.
Lakewood Ranch has two golf courses, one private and one public, both designed by Arnold Palmer. The new Main Street at Lakewood Ranch has attracted top restaurants and upscale retailers from nearby Sarasota.
“Most of our second-home buyers are buying the maintenance-free villas for the golf,” said Beth Barnett of Coldwell Banker in Lakewood Ranch. “Primarily between $450,000 and close to $1 million.”
Charlotte County/Punta Gorda
With its elderly population — 33 percent are 65 or older — and modest housing stock, Charlotte County has always had a reputation as a haven for retirees on fixed incomes. But prices are rising as riverfront and canal-front areas are redeveloped. The pace of redevelopment has quickened since Hurricane Charley in 2004, with the modest older waterfront houses being replaced by more expensive new ones. Unincorporated Port Charlotte, north of Charlotte Harbor, is growing, but plenty of empty lots are still available, left over from the 1960’s development boom. But with its strip-mall lined U.S. 41, it lacks the charm of Punta Gorda, the county seat.
On the south side of the Peace River, Punta Gorda has a delightful historic district along Marion Avenue just west of downtown. Residents enjoy the parks along the river on either side of U.S. 41. The wide, shallow Charlotte Harbor, still lined with plenty of undeveloped shoreline, is renowned as a magnet for sport fishermen.
Naples
Naples is among the nation’s wealthiest winter retreats, largely because of its outstanding golf courses, restaurants, shopping and cultural amenities. Median home price of about $500,000 are the highest in Florida, but inventory is growing and buyers have plenty of choices.
In a county full of prestigious neighborhoods, four stand out. For condominiums, the Lutgert Companies’ Park Shore collection overlooks the Gulf on the north side of town, while further north is Pelican Bay and Bay Colony, separated from the beach by a mangrove preserve. For single-family homes, Gordon Drive South is lined with impressive estates on the Gulf, some valued at $20 million or more, while nearby, seasonal Port Royal features estate homes on fingers of land, giving almost every house, including modernist architect Richard Meier’s famed Neugebauer House, a water view.
Off the water, Collier County has dozens of luxury golf-course communities with courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Robert Trent Jones Jr. and other notables. The county is said to have more golf holes per capita than any city in America. “The number one thing is golf — country clubs that make life so easy,” said Doris Reynolds, a local historian who moved to Naples 54 years ago.
Many buyers choose Naples for its people. “It seems like Naples and the surrounding area is a more Midwest mentality,” said Steve Reimer, who lives in Racine, Wis., in the summers with his wife, Sue, and winters in Naples. “We have more people from the Midwest. We’re New Yorkers, but we had been living in the Midwest for the last 25 years, and the Midwest type of attitudes we found to be exceedingly pleasant. It’s a totally different way of life from the east coast ...The difference between being aggressive and being assertive.”
