| Realmark Group unveils plans for Marina Village, Burnt Store By KEVIN DUFFY Friday, March 3, 2006 |
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| Realmark Group’s Will Stout put on his party hat at Cape Harbour Thursday, unveiling his plans for Marina Village and Burnt Store Marina in grand fashion while citizens and dignitaries nibbled on chicken kabobs and licked popcorn butter from their fingertips. Stout’s recent acquisition of Burnt Store Marina and its 27-hold golf course for $5.5 million signals change at the time-worn northwest Cape Coral community, with Stout calling for another amenity-laden destination to complement Cape Harbour in the southwest. Visitors who took in the presentation over five outdoor movie screens spoke of the changing face of Cape Coral, and how Stout’s arrival in 2000 marked the beginning of soaring real estate values and an identity change for the city from bedroom community to sleeping giant. “Before Will Stout came, no home in the Cape had sold for a million – now they’re a dime a dozen,” said Doug Anderson of Century 21 Sunbelt Realty. Stout himself acknowledged that fact from a hillside movie screen just south of the sales center, where vendor tents gave the proceedings the look of a block party. Now, Cape Harbour is a gated community with million dollar homes and waterfront dining, and it is poised to offer even more. The Portofino, to be built on the north shore of the Marina at Cape Harbour, will consist of two four-story buildings with 48 units starting at 2,500 square feet, said Craig Dearden, Realmark’s chief executive officer. Also included is what Stout refers to as his “funky fish homes,” 25 attached dwelling units featuring a coastal color scheme, with soft pastels in vogue. “Lots of colors with high-end details,” Dearden said. Marina South will include 1,700 square feet of retail, he continued, including a pizzeria café and coffee shop. “High end specialty shops, something the Cape doesn’t have yet, Dearden said.
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At Burnt Store, Stout plans to cluster 330 multi-family units in 11 three-story buildings around the golf course with prices ranging from $300,000 to $400,000. The course itself will receive a facelift as well, with a redesign of the tee boxes and greens and repairs of lingering hurricane damage. Burnt Store resident Bill Thornbury said the course isn’t bad as is, but is somewhat tight. “I don’t know what he’ll be able to do with it,” he said. Plans for dwelling units around the links concern Thornbury, with the necessary space possibly crowding out some of the features that currently e4xist.
Four hotels that may include condominiums are planned for Burnt Store as well, said Dearden, along with a sprucing up of the restaurants and shops that surround the yacht basin. “It’s really good for our tax base to have these kinds of developments,” Mayor Eric Feichthaler said. Some visitors to Cape Harbour may have simply come for the free food, with complimentary hot dogs, hamburgers, shrimp cocktails and chocolate covered strawberries all doled out to an appreciated crowd. As well as free beer and wine. “Will Stout always throws a great party,” said Jack Martin, a realtor with Sellstate Professional Realty. Visitors flooded the sales center to lounge in comfort and watch a rolling video of Stout’s Cape Harbour Marina concept, took boat and bus tours, and nibbled on popcorn – just like all the movies. “One thing I’ve always loved about Cape Harbour is the organization, said David Sanvidge of Olympia Mortgage. “It runs efficiently, and ever5ything Will Stout touches turns to gold.”
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