JOE SELLS SUNSHINE
REAL ESTATE RAINBOWS IN CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA
(All information herein may only be reproduced with written permission of author — 06/28/09)

As a Century21 Birchwood Realty agent I live and work in Cape Coral FL. While I cover all of Lee County, Cape Coral properties are my specialty. In presenting tips for buyers and sellers, this blog focuses on less-publicized, superlative opportunities in Cape Coral. Please log into Listing Book to do your own Lee County MLS searches. Listing Book data updates every 5 minutes, with IDX (Internet Data Exchange). Never waste time on properties already pending, sold, expired, or terminated. To access Listing Book, log on to: www.swflmls.listingbook.com. (You won’t be spammed, sold, or harassed!!) Show me your interests, and together we can chart a great course.
A Brief Digression
If you know Cape Coral well, you can stop reading and wait for next week’s blog about the best buys in the Yacht Club Area. Today’s blog is for readers who want to understand more history behind the development of Cape Coral, what it has to offer, and what distinguishes it from other Florida cities. Readers considering buying in Cape Coral need to understand the soul of the place. I easily wrote about the other two areas without connecting them to the city as a whole. But from here on, I think readers need more of the whole picture in good focus. I believe Cape Coral’s soul was born in the Yacht Club Area; today’s city was predetermined by those first site development plans and then by the character of the first owners who settled their new hometown.

Map showing Lee County, Ft. Myers and Cape Coral
Courtesy of www.floridacountiesmap.com/lee_county.shtml
Cape Coral’s Geo- and Demographics
Cape Coral is a Lee County Florida community of approximately 170,000 people. (The city’s population numbers fluctuate in the current foreclosure environment as properties change hands.) Although a large portion of the population are retirees, the 2000 census set the average age in Cape Coral at 41.6 years, so it is also attractive to young working families. Geographically, it encompasses 114 square miles. It lies near the western coast of South Florida, north of Naples, south of Port Charlotte, and west of Ft. Myers. It is protected from the Gulf of Mexico on the west by the nearby barrier islands: Gasparilla, Cayo Costa, Captiva, North Captiva, Sanibel, and Pine Island. Most of Cape Coral’s western land is a typical, state-protected mangrove buffer, a perfect nursery for fish and shellfish and favored habitat for many birds. The Caloosahatchee River originates out of Florida’s largest lake, Lake Okeechobee, is part of the Intracoastal Waterway, and runs southwest along Cape Coral’s eastern and southeastern edges. Fort Myers Beach (Estero Island) lies further to the southeast. To the north are North Ft. Myers and Punta Gorda. Cape Coral was very lightly settled until the middle 20th century, so it is one of the newest cities in South Florida.
Cape Coral is now the largest city south of Tampa in Southwest Florida. Its primary feature is a network of over 400 miles of man-made canals. Most are interior and freshwater canals. Some lead to small inland (dredged) lakes. (These inland passageways offer jet-ski, kayak, canoe, motorboat, and rowing experiences with good fishing, too. I know of one inland area where you can boat for 30 miles.) Leaving interior Cape Coral and moving out eastward or to the south, you find brackish canals that lead to the Caloosahatchee River. Most of these require boaters to pass under low bridges. Elsewhere, lifts or locks were installed to separate fresh and salt water. Bridges, locks, and lifts are little impediment to the ardent recreational boaters and fishermen who live here. Along the eastern and southeastern fringes of Cape Coral are those canals closest to the River that we’ve been considering: the true sailboat access canals where you can reach open salt water without traversing lifts or locks or going under any overpasses. In the northwest quadrant of the city a lift has been removed, so at this time the canals there flow with saltwater. They lead outwards to Matlacha (pronounced mat-la-shay) Pass, permitting sailboat travel north to Charlotte Harbor, or southward toward the eastern tip of Sanibel Island. Further north is another Cape Coral boat ramp and access point to Charlotte Harbor. (This sailboat access real estate blog series will continue clockwise around Cape Coral until we reach the northwest, in future issues.) In just 50 years, Cape Coral has grown from a small development in the Yacht Club area to a bona fide city, where personal boating dominates.
What Cape Coral Does and Does Not Include
To evaluate whether Cape Coral is a good match for you, you need to recognize some of the things you won’t find here at all, such as: railroads, interstate highways, a major bus hub, a bustling shipping port, airports, huge shopping malls or large retail outlets, an “auto mile” of car dealers, heavy industry, a university, major sports teams, commercial skyscrapers, campgrounds, time-shares, casino boats, flea markets, manufactured homes, a fishing fleet, strip clubs, ghettos, or even dedicated agricultural areas. There is one new condo hotel that is a spa resort. There is one motor home park. We have a small theater group and a cineplex. We have antiques and collectibles shops plus consignment stores as well as a seasonal downtown farmer’s market. There are several new and used car dealerships, but my best guess is that if you compared the number of boat dealers to car dealers, the boat dealers would win. There are two industrial areas that feature light industry. We have one community yacht basin and several marinas for residents of specific communities (e.g., Burnt Store Marina, Tarpon Point Marina and Cape Harbour). A Dock-o-minium can be found on Del Prado Blvd. There are no covered public parking garages. Cape Coral has just one small historical museum, but the county offers many museums. While you have to leave the county to find a major art museum, there are many artists and an increasing presence of interesting art galleries. The Alliance for the Arts in Ft. Myers is a source of enrichment for art lovers, and Florida Gulf Coast University (also in Ft. Myers) further promotes art education. Cape Coral has a dedicated art studio that provides many courses in a wide variety of media. Cape Coral does not have a suitable location for indoor concerts or exhibitions, but Ft. Myers and Estero do. Lest you despair that this is way too quiet a place for you, take heart. Everything that seems missing (except a bustling shipping port) can be found nearby on the other side of the river in Ft. Myers. Plus, greater Lee County offers a far greater selection of just about everything Cape Coral has.
Among the things not found in Cape Coral are prisons. (Ft. Myers provides the county jail for those arrested and awaiting prosecution and sentencing. Charlotte County to the north has the nearest Correctional Institute. Prisoners who have proven adequate adjustment at a correctional facility, may be relocated to some of Florida’s Work Camps, where they serve time in work squads performing public and community services. Ft. Myers has a Work Camp.) There are no nuclear power plants. Lee County gets its electricity from a natural gas/oil power plant on the Orange River (a Caloosahatchee tributary). There are no refineries (sugar, oil, or other), although a biodiesel refinery is proposed for Ft. Myers, to its north, near I-75.
In many U.S. localities the oldest section near a water body features a contiguous roadway that attracts sightseers. You haven’t seen this in the 2 areas we’ve visited so far and when we study the older Yacht Club Area, you’ll quickly realize this was never part of the plan. Instead, the city’s design maximizes the number of waterfront lots for residences. Quirky, bending residential waterfront roads deter speeding and afford homeowners remarkable privacy from sightseers. Early advertising for Cape Coral aptly dubbed it a “sunlit city of winding waterways”.
Only within the last 12 or so years has Cape Coral begun permitting high rise condominiums (but so far none have been built in the Yacht Club Area). Gated communities have sprung up in recent years (but again, none are in the Yacht Club Area). Cape Coral has one or two shops offering pornography now (but they are discreet, as those things go). Waterfront dining opportunities are limited, but growing. There are several low- to mid-rise national chain hotels and a few independent motels, as well as an ever-growing number of restaurants to suit wide tastes. There is public transportation (known as Lee-Tran) between these 2 major cities on opposite shores of the river. There are nightclubs and bars mixed in with the commercial areas. A free downtown trolley operates daily and then runs on Friday and Saturday nights to encourage movement between favorite entertainment spots. One spur of the route takes users to the Yacht Club during the day. Strip malls predominate in Cape Coral. However, the rising population has attracted major new stores: Sears, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Target, J. C. Penney, Super Wal-mart, Bealls (pronounced “bells”), and many more. There’s a full range of doctors but only one hospital. (Look to Ft. Myers for more hospitals and many more doctors). “The Cape”, as residents affectionately call it, boasts a terrific modern library with a major recent addition. It is part of the excellent Lee County Library System. A huge second library is rising in the Cape’s northwest to serve not only Cape Coral but North Ft. Myers and Pine Island. The public and private schools are all quite modern and seem well-respected. Graduates certainly are accepted at the finest universities and military academies. I volunteer every year as a judge at the Edison Science Fair, and the projects the students present always amaze me and bring pride. Furthermore, when you compare the Cape to other Florida cities, the educational levels attained plus the per-household incomes are very high. (I used a Google search for “Lee County Demographics” and could select cities outside of Lee County, too.)
Most people in Cape Coral are fairly happy with this mix. It means the city is remarkably quiet, crime is fairly manageable, residents tend to come and stay (which also promotes good schools), and the pollution is quite low. Yet the rest of the county amply fills the void for any enterprises or amenities you might seek. Meanwhile the city benefits from the county’s larger commercial tax base.
As far as city descriptors, “trendy”, “elegant”, “cosmopolitan”, or “sophisticated” aren’t right. The projects being designed and executed here now are definitely more upscale and the city is in a “polishing” phase, acquiring luster. The city has always stood out as clean, friendly and by no means “backward”. Somehow this city of 170,000 people maintains its surprising “home town” feel. We have an amazing number of parks that offer an extremely wide range of activities. I would challenge you to come up with a favorite interest for which there’s no affiliated group in Cape Coral. Early residents started the Power Squadron and the Sportsman Yacht and Sailing Club. Religious choices abound. There are groups for bingo, bridge, mah-jong, sewing, gardening, biking, antique car collecting and more, plus we have Elks, Moose, American Legion and VFW clubs, an Italian American Club, the German American Club, newcomers’ clubs for people originating from specific states — and it goes on and on. Among the fun events the city sponsors are Oktoberfest, a holiday parade of lighted boats, the Tour de Cape bike ride, Cinco de Mayo, numerous street fairs and shows, and monthly sunset gatherings at the Yacht Club beach with car shows and vendors. The annual cardboard boat race typifies the fun and energy citizens put into (and get out of) life. The 4th of July features a spectacular “Red, White, and Boom!!” show of fireworks off the Cape Coral Bridge.
The late 20th century settlers of Cape Coral imprinted it with their values: they were a good mix of hard working, successful, energetic, social, decent, nature loving, and entrepreneurial people. Many came to escape the cities of Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh (and others), but weren’t looking to be recluses. The Cape provides an awfully nice quality of life. You could be as proud to call it home as I am!
As Cape Coral Grew and Grew
Early city planning provided minimal shopping, police, fire protection, schools, churches, etc. From 1959 to 1964 mail came by boat. The land developers were instrumental in getting the Cape Coral Bridge built between Cape Coral and Fort Myers. (It opened in 1964.) In fact, the developers very nearly built their own airport, but instead helped Ft. Myers extend the runway at the old military base known as Page Field into a suitable resource for early Cape Coral visitors and buyers. (The land developers marketed Cape Coral in the northern states with a “Fly and Buy” program!) Now there is a very large modern, international airport in Ft. Myers, with Page Field servicing many private jets and corporate aircraft.
Early residents expanded facilities as growth demanded. The land mass was eventually divided into quadrants: the southeast, northeast, southwest and northwest. The city grew by fits and spurts, beginning with the southeast and moving into the southwest next. A lot of infrastructure backfilling occurred, but the city was rich with vacant land. Roads were widened (and then widened again)! Originally, everyone relied on private wells and septic systems. Cape Coral became a city in 1970. In the ’70s the city installed the first public utilities for the southeast quadrant. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, Cape Coral experienced unbelievable growth. The canals, the land, and the roads were all there waiting and suddenly we were on the national radar. The largely vacant northeast and northwest quadrants attracted many new single family homes and with them commercial development. Real estate prices have always been attractively low for the region. In 1997 the city opened a second bridge to Ft. Myers (the Veteran’s Memorial Mid-Point Bridge). The Cape added schools, fire stations, a new City Hall, and much more. Utility expansion plans were laid, and the rising population plus rising property values seemed ready to provide tax money to fuel all the infrastructure growth needed or expected. A very large part of Cape Coral’s growth was fed by liberal mortgage lending practices combined with low costs of new homes and the enormous spiral of ever-increasing property values. Speculation and greed were rampant. Unfortunately, when property values fell, many of Cape Coral’s newest residents were upside-down in their mortgages. Speculators rushed to get out of their contracts. Property abandonment mushroomed. Foreclosure news took over the headlines. There are still some homes under construction and building permits are being issued, but growth is negligible compared to what it was in 2006 when the air began to escape the “bubble”.
What Lies Ahead for Cape Coral?
The city hopes to improve its old downtown area with a vibrant urban village and there is a desire to bring in one or more colleges and/or new branches of existing Lee County colleges. Clean industries are sought. The city would love to acquire a sports team, but Ft. Myers has taken the lead in that area for now — with spring training sites for The Boston Red Sox and The Minnesota Twins. They also host The Miracle, a Florida State League baseball team. An East Coast Hockey League team, the Florida Everblades, has a 7000-seat home arena in nearby Estero. During hockey’s off season, the Florida Firecats, an AF2 arena league football team, fires up that arena. Discussions are ongoing to possibly lure the Baltimore Orioles to the old Red Sox stadium in Ft. Myers when the new Red Sox stadium (that will replicate Fenway Park) is complete.
Meanwhile, around 2001, the Cape set up its Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to define new plans for the old downtown. With it came big plans, the designation of redevelopment areas and a staff of planners. They envision a modernized walker’s downtown area with large riverfront condominiums and hotels on the fringes. The city has made grants to businesses to promote improvements. Ironically, it may turn out this unexpected “breather” in all the rapid development may result in even better improvement plans being made.
To examine some of the planning underway, go to the website: www.downtowncapecoral.net. You can view impressive architectural renderings by highlighting “About the CRA” at the top left, and then selecting from one (or all) of the first 3 entries: “Projects”, “Redevelopment Plan” and “Master Plan”. Sections of the city have already been legally designated for redevelopment. While the city experiences financial shortfalls (and budget readjustments occur), the CRA continues to plan, but execution has slowed. Watch for an upcoming report of my July 8th bus tour with Century21 Birchwood Realty, Cape Coral Mayor Jim Burch, and CRA members, as I learn even more about the redevelopment area and the plans.
You’re ready to integrate these descriptions into a visual tour of the Cape. To watch a little over a 3-minute video with an aerial tour of the city, visit the website: www.whatsupcapecoral.com. Select the blue tab at the top right: “New To The Cape”. At the beginning, traffic approaches Cape Coral from the east via the Cape Coral Bridge. On the rightmost portion of the screen is a glimpse of the Gold Coast area (subject of the June 12th blog). At 3 minutes and 35 seconds you will be over the Caloosahatchee River at the southeastern end of Cape Coral approaching the Yacht Club Area. Observe the beach and fishing pier as the segment ends. Hold that image; you’re ready for the next blog: the Yacht Club Area’s Best Buys.
If Cape Coral (or Lee County) seems to offer what you like, you may want to follow some newspapers or other sources to increase your familiarity. You may want to check out The Cape Coral Daily Breeze (www.cape-coral-daily-breeze.com), or the paper published in Fort Myers that covers local, state and national news, The News-Press (www.news-press.com). You can also visit web sites for the various Chambers of Commerce. (For example, the Cape Coral site is: www.capecoralchamber.com.)







