Big Changes in Cape Coral

normal'>By: Kathleen

McNamara

Ask any Cape Coral resident why he or she lives there, and

you'll get a variety of answers. Most Cape folks will agree, though, that

there's just something a bit different -- a bit more down to earth -- over the

bridge. And you don't even notice it until you go out to dine one night and the

server knows your name, or when you begin to recognize the boaters traveling up

and down your canal.

"It's an amazing place,"

says Connie Barron, the city's public information officer. "Cape Coral

grows on people, and they love it."

Indeed, the Cape is growing on a

lot more people these days. Although the city claims only about 20 percent of

Lee County's total population, the area now churns out 40-50 percent of the

county's new single-family home permits. That's about 150 permits a month,

according to Bob Johns, the city's economic director.

Johns, himself a 15-year resident,

also points out the Cape's growing diversity away from its image as an

affordable retirement community. Young families, working professionals and Baby

Boom millionaires have added spice to the Cape Coral socio-economic mix.

"That's good," Johns says. "That means we're growing up."

Locals are quick to point out the

advantages of living in the Cape. First, there's the obvious quality of life

factors: sun, water and climate. City parks, including one waterpark, seem well

maintained and largely uncrowded. City amenities and healthcare are within easy

reach. Crime rates are low.

The Cape is also an easy place to

build a home. Unlike some locations east of I-75, which will in years ahead

face tightening environmental restrictions, the Cape has been platted for

development for years. City utilities, sparse in years past, are also expanding

rapidly to provide more residences with city water and sewer lines.

Then there's the undeniable

affordability factor. For about $100,000, a family can purchase a two- to

three-bedroom home with pool and garage. And for about $300,000, canalfront

living can become a reality -- try that in Naples or Fort Myers.

style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Turnaround

For years, Cape Coral remained a

community known more for its affordability than its desirability. The area's

development history may have been one factor that worked against its image.

In the 1957, an energetic salesman

names Leonard Rosen and his brother Julius (Jack) Rosen bought 103 square miles

of agricultural land and wetland north of the mouth of the Caloosahatchee

River. They formed the Gulf Guaranty Land and Title Company -- later to be

known as the Gulf American Land Corporation -- with a visionary plan to develop

a residential community in Cape Coral. They undertook a similar venture in

Golden Gate Estates, south in Collier County.

The Cape Coral plan was ambitious

from the outset. Starting from the southwest corner of the peninsula, the

company dredged wetlands, building an intricate system of canals and roadways

winding around residential lots. Salesmen marketed the community as an

affordable, active retirement community with a yacht club, golf courses and

other recreational facilities -- there was even a Teen Center, to which each

Cape teenager owned a key. Perspective clients flew into the area, visited the

popular Rose Garden attraction, and signed on the dotted line to buy their own

piece of Florida paradise.

From an environmental standpoint,

however, the Cape did not face an especially warm reception from across the

Caloosahatchee. Unlike reclusive Sanibel and historic downtown Fort Myers, the

Cape seemed to be an unfriendly, largely barren concrete mass.

Despite its image problems,

however, the Cape came into its own as a tightly knit and quickly growing

residential community. In 1970, the City of Cape Coral officially incorporated.

By 1980, the area grew to 32,103 residents, an increasing number of whom were

working families who commuted daily from across the river.

style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Changes in the 1990s

By the mid-1990s, the Cape reached

the 80,000 mark in its population. However, the area was largely overshadowed

by a shifting trend toward south Lee County, especially Bonita Springs and

Estero, where the new Florida Gulf Coast University took root by 1997.

"For a long time, all you'd hear is 'Bonita, Bonita, Bonita," recalls

Greg Eagle of Eagle Realty.

For those who stuck it out,

however, Cape Coral began a new launch in the late 1990s. The development

dynamic shifted gears a little over a year ago when Miami-based Avatar sold off

much of its holdings to Cape Coral Holdings, a division of Minnesota Power

& Light, for a reported $45 million. Avatar had been known to keep parcels

for years with little price negotiation, restricting buyers to use only its own

homebuilder. Cape Coral Holdings, however, opened the doors to mass

development, allowing other builders access to the area.

Two local real estate companies,

Eagle Real Estate and Douglas Realty, are among those who have benefited from

the transaction. Both purchased property from Cape Coral Holdings with the

intention of developing upscale neighborhoods with water access. Eagle intends

to develop in the up-and-coming northwest Cape area, while Douglas has some

prime areas mapped out in the southwest corner. The upscale Cape Harbour area

is enjoying a fresh start. And the former Rose Garden may be the site of a

hotel in years to come.

The city government also seems to

be in high transition. A new $15.5 city hall complex is under construction,

scheduled for completion early next year. The city is undertaking a

$250-million capital improvements campaign, including a westward expansion of

Veterans Parkway and a water utilities expansion project that will bring 75

percent of the south Cape under service. A new 7,300-square-foot chamber of

commerce is in the planning stages, with a fund-raising campaign well underway.

style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Today: the Cape in Demand

An increased regional premium on

waterfront property, combined with an especially strong national economy and

low interest rates, continues to give the area an economic boost like it has

never seen before. As more companies came to Southwest Florida, more young

professionals look at the Cape as an affordable place to raise a family. In

1998, commuters delighted in the new Midpoint Memorial Bridge, which gave

access to Fort Myers within 10 minutes and a direct route to I-75.

Population increased from 81,444 in

1993 to an estimated 100,000 this June. The growth is expected to continue to

102,000 residents by year's end and 150,000 by 2015. "What happened in the

last 20 years is going to happen in the next 10," Eagle predicts.

The local optimism is supported by

record home sales and dramatic price increases. A few years back, there was a

pool of about 2,400 homes for sale, says broker Kevin Haag, owner of Douglas

Realty. Now the number is down to 700, with a shortage of vacant lots on the

waterfont. In 1996, 984 new single family homes constructed in Cape Coral. In

1998, the city recorded 1,403 new homes. In the first six years of this year, there

have already been 1,108.

The numbers are promising to folks

like Haag. "We're just getting started," he says. "We probably

have 10 to 12 more years of this."

Perhaps the most surprising change

in Cape Coral, however, is the growing number of homes surpassing the $700,000

mark -- a figure unheard of only a few years ago. This May, a family from

California purchased an existing waterfront one-story home for $1 million in

The Hermitage, a gated community on a thin Southwest Cape peninsula with direct

water access to the Caloosahatchee.

Douglas Realty's Andrea Signorelli,

the real estate agent for the buyers, said the family chose the Cape over other

locations because of its relative affordability for waterfront access. The sale

made headlines as a record price for an existing home in the area.

Even in older neighborhoods, it's

not at all uncommon to see multi-million dollar homes under construction next

to old models from the 1960s. A current trend is to buy an existing home, knock

it down and replace it with a mansion of more than 10,000 square feet. The land

is that valuable. Riverfront lots, which sold in the $200,000 range two years

ago, can now fetch $450,000.

"There's only so much

waterfront land left in Southwest Florida," says Cape Coral Council for

Progress Executive Director Joe Mazurkiewicz, Jr., "and a lot of it is

here.

normal'>Business Rolling Along

The Cape has come a long way from

its early days, when residents literally drove an hour to the nearest grocery

store in Fort Myers. Cape retail, commercial and industrial sales are all on

the rise. During 1999, entrepreneurs built 84 new businesses in Cape Coral.

The economic atmosphere has most

business people optimistic, even excited. "The city is embracing economic

development," says Mike Quaintance, president of the 624-member Cape Coral

Chamber of Commerce. "The city right now is in a mode that is more economic

development friendly than I've ever seen."normal'>

Economic Director Bob Johns points

out some major economic policy changes in recent years:

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The city established an Economic Development Office in

1993 and in 1996 designated a budget for to promote the city to would-be

residents, businesses and tourists. This year, Johns has a budget of $95,000 to

market Cape Coral with nationwide print advertising in economic and trade

journals, informational materials, trade show displays, a Website and a CD-ROM