A new type of housing development is coming to Southwest Florida. Odyssey by Soltura is close to breaking ground off Forum Boulevard in Fort Myers, just south of State Road 82.

This will be a rental home community. Think luxury apartments, but with their own four walls. The $29 million construction project will have 129 homes. Fl Forum Investors LLC, part of Soltura Development, bought the 12 acres, a narrow and long strip of land, for $650,000 in February, property records show.

“It started out west in Arizona,” said Danville Leadbetter, co-founder of the Naples-based Soltura Development, which is developing this project. “It’s called a horizontal apartment.” There will be 40 one-bedroom, 57 two-bedroom and 32 three-bedroom units.

Amenities to be built include a lap pool, dog park, outdoor bar and a clubhouse. Each apartment home will have a private, fenced backyard and a covered lanai, front and back.

With the price of single-family homes rising in the gated communities near the Forum area of Fort Myers, Leadbetter said he saw the need for this niche product. “They are all freestanding homes,” Leadbetter said. “It’s a professionally managed, like an apartment complex. We’re all trying to solve the workforce housing problem.

Leadbetter said this wouldn’t be “affordable housing,” but it would be more affordable to some than buying a house. Leadbetter was not ready to divulge the monthly rent prices, but he said they would be competitive with other luxury apartments in the surrounding area.

“Everything is relative,” Leadbetter said. “This is an option for people. It would be more affordable than any single-family home in the Forum.”
 

Pictured Rendering Courtesy Soltura Development