Developer hopes deep-water docking will lure boating elite to Cape Coral

Naples Daily News, Sunday February 11, 2001

by John Henderson

CAPE CORAL - The developers of a new subdivision in Cape Coral where multi-million dollar homes are being sold are targeting the wealthier Naples crowd as customers.

William Stout said buyers get much more for their money in his new yachting subdivision in southwest Cape Coral than they would in Naples.

Homes at Cape Harbour are selling from several hundred thousand to several million dollars.

Stout said a similar 4,500-square foot home in Naples that costs about $5 million would cost a little more than $1 million at Cape Harbour. He said that savings leaves an extra million to buy a new boat, spend on the children, donate to charity, and put in the bank.

Stout said buyers of homes in his community at the end of Chiquita Boulevard at El Dorado Parkway can dock vessels as long as 65 to 70 feet at deep-water docks behind their homes and at a 76-slip marina.

Boaters have straight-shot access, unobstructed by bridges, through deep-water canals to the Gulf of Mexico.

Harry B. MacCallum Jr., a broker-owner for Ad Miller Realty in Naples, a Christie's Great Estates affiliate that sells high-end homes, said he was intrigued by the Cape Coral project. He said the homes could be a good alternative to those people who may not want to pay Naples-area prices.

"Generally speaking, it sounds like a very interesting alternative to this area," he said. "I guess it would depend upon what people were looking for as far as civic amenities such as the playhouse, restaurants, and all those things. But a lot of people like seclusion and don't want stuff around them. They like a nice place on water, so they are focused on boat usage and (the amenities) may not matter to them."

MacCallum said compared to Naples, the Cape Coral waterfront properties are a bargain. He said in general terms, in the last two or three years prices for waterfront land have doubled here.

"I'd tend to agree that the pricing would be lower up there (in Cape Coral) than here for direct access," MacCallum said.

"You've got my curiosity piqued enough to look and see what they are doing (at Cape Harbour)," he said. "A lot of people gravitate to Southwest Florida to access the Gulf and Ten Thousand islands for fishing."

Cape Harbour is located at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River, and sited behind 7,000 miles of mangrove-laden land that can help buffer docked boats from a hurricane, he said.

"The Gulf (of Mexico) by any name is still the Gulf," said Stout, a developer from Atlanta who is building his own 12,000-square-foot home in the higher-priced island enclave of the community called "Harbour Preserve." His home is expected to be the highest valued in the community at $5 million.

Preferred builders in Stout's community during the next four years will be building between 250 and 300 single-family homes. Another enclave in the community will add another 300 multi-family homes in a couple of years.

Also, an upscale retail area with a boardwalk is planned to be built around the marina.

"It is going to be like Bell Tower (in Fort Myers) with high-end boutiques, beautiful little shops," said John Barnes, the director of marketing for Realmark Cape Harbour LLC. "We hope to have that completed no later than 24 months."

Cape Harbour will also have an 88-foot "vanishing edge" swimming pool, clubhouse, boathouse, and tennis courts. Stout said he also would like to build a 300-room hotel.

The waterfront property was originally developed by Avatar, then was purchased by a subsidiary of Minnesota Power and Light.

Last year, Stout bought the marina and land bordering the waterfront.

"What really makes this special is that people can live here and park their boat at a private dock behind their house and sail the world from their back yard," Barnes said.

Barnes said buyers appreciate the fact that the community is close to shopping and amenities, but not in the heart of them.

"The customers who have purchased in Cape Harbour have done so because they wanted to avoid the hustle and bustle and congestion of Naples and Bonita Springs," Barnes said. "If you live in Naples you are waiting in traffic or waiting in line for restaurant. "Cape Harbour is tucked away in Cape Coral where there is good shopping. You are 21 minutes to the airport, but you're not having to fight traffic everywhere you go. This what customers are telling us."

Wes Brodersen, president of Gulder Real Estate in Bonita Springs, said he thought it was a mistake to include the name "Cape" in the project name. Cape Coral has been known as a blue-collar, middle-class bedroom community.

But Brodersen said he sees a good chance for the community succeeding anyway. He said the transformation of Bonita Springs from a middle-class to higher-end community shows that this can happen in a place like Cape Coral.

"What were the chances that Quail West (multi-million-dollar community) was going to make it in Bonita (area)?" he said. "Quail West came into this kind of a low-cost bedroom community and low-cost retirement community," he said.

Brodersen said marketing of the project will be a key.

"You've got to give a lot to get million-dollar customers. You have to have a lot of stuff," he said. "But once again, look at it this way, the sun between Bonita Springs and Cape Coral is no different. . . .Very honestly, they've (Cape Harbour) probably got a good thing. We'll see very quickly how they are doing. They either sell it or don't."

One major factor working in the community's favor is the deep water access allowing boats to access the gulf without having to go through a maze of canals or shallower water, he said.

"Man, that's great. I wish it was here," said Brodersen, a real estate broker whose family has operated a firm in Bonita Springs for decades. "We (in Bonita Springs) don't have the deep water.

"One thing that is running wild right is now waterfront properties. I'll be honest, you can build golf course properties on every corner. But nobody is going to let you dig canals or man-made water systems any more."

Barnes also said today's environmental rules would make it difficult if not impossible to dig out canals and develop anything similar to what Cape Harbour offers.

"On the whole gulf coast (of Florida), it's probably the last deep-water community that is going to be built due to ecological reasons, with all the environmental rules," he said. "The state would never allow anyone to cut in a community like this off the coast."

Barnes said he disagreed that having the word "Cape" in the title of their community was a negative, saying that he envisions Cape Coral in the coming years becoming a destination location now that the Mid-Point bridge is complete. He said Cape Coral stands out because it is one of the few places in Southwest Florida with empty land with such prime water access that can be developed into this type of high-end communities.

"Cape Coral is going to be Florida's new city in the next decade," he said. "We've got a whole committee with the chamber and Council of Progress that is going to re-dress Cape Coral Parkway."

He said a re-development plan is being discussed to redevelop Cape Coral Parkway in a similar fashion to what has happened on Fifth Avenue in Naples.

There are several different communities within Cape Harbour with homes at varying prices.

"Harbour Preserve" is an island unto itself where the most expensive homes are being sold.

The 79-home enclave that will have a separate gate includes a 35-acre natural preserve as well as oversized lots to accommodate courtyard and motor court homes. Homes here begin at $1 million and range to more than $3 million.

"Harbour Pointe" offers 22 lakefront homesites that don't have canal access, and 36 homesites that do offer deep-water canal access. He said homes in this community are priced from $450,000 to $1.2 million.

Barnes said there are several furnished models in this community, including one by Gary Aubuchon of Aubuchon showcasing the latest technologies in electronics that handle functions such as controlling heating and surveillance.

He said another enclave of Harbour Point will be called "Meta," and will offer multi-family homes from the mid $200,000s up to $700,000. He said it will probably be a couple of years before this section of the subdivision is developed.

The Seawinds Off Water enclave was developed by Avatar. Barnes said re-sales are selling for between $300,000 to $700,000 there. Barnes said they are doing pretty well since Stout bought the property last year. He said lots were even selling several months ago when there were mounds of dirt on the site and the water supply, seawalls, curbs and roads were not complete. "We have sold 39 homesites in less than 12 months and sold them with adverse conditions," he said. "You couldn't even drive a car to the homesites." 