1. real estate

THE WIRE
PAGE 1
Charlotte Sun
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An Edition of the Sun
VOL. 123 NO. 59
AMERICA’S BEST COMMUNITY DAILY
BY THE NUMBERS
Can Charlotte
challenge Lee?
D
uring last year’s MarketWatch Real
Estate conference in Fort Myers,
Charlotte County was an afterthought.
Now it’s the
bogeyman.
“If these prices keep
rising, we’re going
to be sending our
buyers to Charlotte
County,” real estate
expert Denny Grimes
told a packed house
at the Harborside
Convention Center in
Fort Myers this week.
“You’re going to see
growth (in Charlotte
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
County) because of
cost. They have a low barrier to entry,” said
Randy Thibaut, president of Land Solutions
Inc., a land broker who has already worked
on residential deals in Charlotte and DeSoto
counties.
Grimes, president of Denny Grimes &
Company, pointed to the growing regional
gap in median home prices in 2014, with
Charlotte County logging the lowest at
$148,000 compared to Lee’s $170,000 median price. The average existing home sales
price offered an even starker difference. The
average sales price for Charlotte in 2014 was
$190,000 versus $284,000 in Lee County.
“Watch that market,” Grimes said of
Charlotte at Tuesday night’s gathering.
Thibaut and Grimes had predicted a
rebound for Charlotte during last year’s
MarketWatch conference, noting the 89
percent increase in new home permits in
2013 to 465. The 28.2 percent increase in
2014 was markedly smaller, but crossed
the 500-permit mark Thibaut had cited as
a psychological threshold for builders and
developers.
Several homebuilders got a jump on the
pack in 2014. According to data compiled
by Land Solutions Inc. for the conference
program, Maronda Homes, Adams Homes,
D.R. Horton and DM Dean Inc., accounted
for 185, or 31 percent, of the 596 single-family building permits issued in Charlotte
County in 2014.
Maronda has aggressively purchased lots
and built homes in existing subdivisions
— including The River Club in Charlotte
Harbor, Calusa Creek east of Punta Gorda
and Villa Milano off State Road 776 east of
El Jobean — whose original developers ran
into trouble during the 2006 housing bust.
Adams, which targets similar homebuyers
in the upper $100,000 range, has been most
active in KB Homes’ Creekside subdivision
off Taylor Road south of Punta Gorda.
Creekside was the most active subdivision
in the county, with 43 permits in 2014. D.R.
Horton recently resumed construction on
homes in its Waterford Estates subdivision
east of Punta Gorda, which was tied with
Centex’s Riverwood for the second-most
permits pulled in 2014, with 26. The River
Club was fourth with 24.
One area where Charlotte County does
not compete with Lee and Collier counties
is multifamily housing. No multifamily
permits were issued here in 2014.
•••
Charlotte-DeSoto Building Industry
Association executive officer Donna Barrett
cut her social media teeth at the Cultural
Center of Charlotte County, where she
worked as marketing manager before taking
the CDBIA gig.
Now with the builders, she is trying to
build online buzz for a YouTube video created by the association as part of a National
Association of Home Builders contest,
which runs through Friday.
To watch the video, which features
CDBIA members — including Charlotte
County Commissioner and former CDBIA
President Bill Truex — “dancing,” go to www.
youtube.com and do a search for CDBIA or
Ma5l9C2Xq4k. As of Friday afternoon, the
video had 122 views. It will be interesting to
see what an old media mention in the Sun
can do for that number today.
Brian Gleason is editorial page editor for
the Sun Newspapers. Readers may reach him
at [email protected], and follow him
on Twitter at @bglesun.
Brian
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GAMBLING DEAL ON THE TABLE
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2015
www.sunnewspapers.net
By ADAM KREGER
STAFF WRITER
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PHOTO
PROVIDED
Port Charlotte
High School center
fielder Brad Baker
(10) remained
hospitalized
Friday after being
involved in a
serious motorcycle wreck this
week on his way
to a game at
Lemon Bay High
School.
There may be six weeks left in the local high
school baseball season, but the Port Charlotte
Pirates already have suffered its worst loss of the
year.
Senior outfielder Brad Baker remained in
intensive care Friday at Lee Memorial Hospital
in Fort Myers after being involved in a serious motorcycle accident late Wednesday in
Englewood.
He sustained several injuries — including a
fractured pelvis — and already has undergone
multiple surgeries. He’s expected to make a full
PLAYER | 8
Old-fashioned fun
SUN PHOTOS BY BETSY WILLIAMS
Above: Deep Creek Elementary School fourth-graders Vanessa Thomson, Claire M.
Reta and Cassi Catchings, with a bird-feather fan that Claire bought at the Frontier
Days event. Right: Old-fashioned sack races had Liberty Elementary School secondgrader Mya Manganelli jumping her way to the finish line Friday during the annual
Florida Frontier Days, held at Bayshore Live Oak Park in Charlotte Harbor. The fun
and educational two-day event, which continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, is
presented by Charlotte County Historical Center Society. See more photos, page 5.
County reconsidering Deep Creek MSBU
Harbour Heights
rates will double
sidewalk project
By GARY ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER
By GARY ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER
MURDOCK — Charlotte
County is taking a second
look at perhaps funding a
sidewalk project in Harbour
Heights.
Citing child safety as
a main consideration,
District 1 Charlotte County
Commissioner Ken Doherty
said the Harbour Heights
sidewalk plan might be
deserving of county money,
either from the capital
improvements fund or a
general revenue source.
A major concern has been
the lack of sidewalks within
High
8
AND WEEKLY
Injured baseball player
begins road to recovery
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In Today’s
Classifieds!
Florida lawmakers appear ready to allow key portions of the
state’s high-stakes gambling deal with the Seminole to expire.
the two-mile, no-bus-service
area around Deep Creek
Elementary School, which
has become a rallying point
in the community.
“It’s certainly a legitimate project,” said Danny
Quick, county public works
director.
For years, residents have
complained their community has been neglected
by the county, citing the
sidewalk issue as a prime
example. It is estimated
that 158 children walk to
bus stops or directly to the
school without the benefit of
sidewalks.
SIDEWALK | 8
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MURDOCK — Promising
residents will pay now or
pay more later, Charlotte
County commissioners
have approved a street
repaving program that will
boost Deep Creek annual
assessments by more than
100 percent for the next
decade.
Following a public
hearing Thursday night, the
commission voted unanimously to resurface 56
miles of roadway throughout the Deep Creek (NonUrban) Street and Drainage
MSBU, which covers 8,684
lots. MSBU stands for
Municipal Service Benefit
Unit.
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“This is a very good
investment in the community,” Commissioner Chris
Constance told a crowd of
about 150 citizens. “The
cost will only go up.”
Under the plan, the
current $89 annual MSBU
assessment rate per lot with
a home would be doubled
to $188 for the next 10
years. Similarly, owners of
unoccupied lots would see
their annual assessments
go from $99 to $198 over
the same period.
An estimated $146 of the
yearly assessment would go
toward the street repaving
project, which includes
drainage improvements
to replace or reline pipes
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