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Up from the ashes: Construction has officially kicked off at the Shalimar Beach Resort — nearly 18 months after it was destroyed during Hurricane Ian. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held in Sanibel last week to mark the new project. The rebuilt resort will include a 27,334-square-foot, two-story building with 21 one-bedroom units as well as a 6,032- square-foot, two-story fourplex building with two one-bedroom units; two two-bedroom units; and four duplexes with one-bedroom cottages. Each building will be built over covered parking, says Fort Myers-based Stevens Construction, which is building the resort. In all, there will be 33 units as well as a lobby and a manger’s suite. It will be a total of 52,207 square feet. The Shalimar first opened in 1959. In an October 2022 Facebook post, the property’s owners described what happened when Ian hit, writing that “our entire property has been swept away in the storm surge, with most of our buildings coming to rest in heaps on West Gulf Drive and in streets beyond.” It promised at the time to rebuild old-Florida style cottages on the property rather than condos. “Just much stronger and better, of course!”
Fee schedule: The city of Cape Coral has approved an increase to its utility impact fees to pay for the expansion of municipal water and sewer services. According to the Real Estate Investment Society, a networking, education and industry advocacy group, the city is raising the fees for water, sewer and irrigation for a new home from $6,750 to $8,748, up 29.6%. The increase will be phased in over four years. Localities around the region are beginning to discuss increasing impact fees as population growth and the development needed to serve that growth burdens local infrastructure. In late February, Manatee County commissioners voted to raise its impact fees by 50% over the next four years. The increase will go toward addressing roads, parks, libraries and emergency services. And REIS says Fort Myers is also discussing raising its impact fees on water.
Active living: PulteGroup has closed on a 200 acre-site in Pasco County that will be the first phase of a 430-acre development it's planning. The homebuilder paid $13 million. Eshenbaugh Land Co. was the broker, says a Pulte spokesperson. The property will be used for the development of 696 homes under the company’s Del Webb brand, which is aimed at people 55 and older. The property is off of Shady Hills Road, north of State Road 52. Pulte says land development permitting should be completed by the spring, with the construction of model homes starting by year’s end. When complete, the community will include a clubhouse with a bar and grill, walking trails, a food truck plaza and pickleball and bocce courts. It will be called Del Webb River Reserve. Last year, Atlanta-based Pulte bought 724 acres in Lakewood Ranch with plans to build 1,300 Del Webb homes on the property.
Plan to address affordability: The city of Tampa has launched the Tampa Housing Implementation Plan, which includes putting more than $82 million in funding aimed at making it more affordable for renters and homeowners to live in Tampa. The plan calls for identifying the gap in housing supply, figuring out what needs to be done to address housing shortages and taking the steps to fix it. This can be done, the city says in a statement, by investing more money to support the creation of affordable places to live, as well as land use changes to support housing for residents over the long-term. According to the city’s statement, nearly 40% of residents are “housing cost-burdened.” That means more than 30% of their monthly gross income goes toward paying for housing.
Plan to address affordability 2: Speaking of affordable housing. Sarasota County has launched a plan of its own to attract developers and others to build affordable multifamily housing projects. Its plan is called The Resilient SRQ Multifamily Affordable Housing program. The $40 million program calls for nonprofit and for-profit developers, county municipalities and public housing authorities to apply for funding to build communities aimed at low to moderate income families. The funding comes for the $201.5 million the county is getting from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through a community development block grant for disaster recovery. Laurel Varnell, the program’s manager, says in a statement that the program aims to help meet the need for affordable living units after Hurricane Ian. For the projects that meet the basic criteria (which includes a minimum of 51% of the units being affordable), developers will be scored on their financial plan, leverage of funding, project readiness, project impact, period of affordability, the number of affordable units and a pre-award assessment.
Senior moments: A pair of senior living facilities in Venice and Bradenton have been sold to Clearwater investment firm TJM Properties for $7.1 million. The Venice property it bought is the Tuscan Garden of Venice at 1121 Jacaranda Blvd. TJM paid $3.13 million for that property. The second is Summerfield Senior Living at 3409 26th St. W. in Bradenton. TJM paid $4 million for that property. Both, according to local property and state records, were previously owned by a Toledo, Ohio, real estate trust named ReNew, which lost money on both land sales. Property records show that in 2020 ReNew paid $4.3 million for the Venice property and $4.5 million for the one in Bradenton. TJM, founded in 1979 by entrepreneur Terry McCarthy, was once a big player in senior living, until it sold 15 of its communities in August 2013. After focusing on the hospitality sector over the next decade, it bought five senior living facilities last year, making improvements and taking over management. The latest purchases were made by LLCs with principal addresses at TJM’s Ulmerton Road offices and naming Terence McCarthy as manager.
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