German
nationals are coming to Southwest Florida in significant numbers.
They arrive both as tourists (about 84,000 last year alone, according to the Lee
County Visitor and Convention Bureau), and as real estate investors who buy or
lease homes and property for businesses.
And more Germans are expected. Southwest Florida International will have nonstop
or direct service to three German cities after Wednesday, when LTU International
Airways debuts a weekly flight between Munich and the south Fort Myers airport.
LTU also provides Dusseldorf-Fort Myers flights; Condor offers local service to
Frankfurt.
"There
was a dip in Germans coming here after 9/11, but that's gone, that's just
forgotten," said Michael Schneider-Christians, a German citizen and Century
21 Sunbelt Realtor. He has lived and worked in Cape Coral for almost 20 years,
using a United States government-issued green card.
Schneider-Christians recalled another dip when the dollar went sky high and
German investors here moved their money home and made large profits. But now the
market is hot, like the climate in Southwest Florida.
economics
many Germans prefer to spend only their winters here, avoiding the summer
heat Lee County has attracted Germans more affluent than the norm,
Schneider-Christians said. Especially in Cape Coral.
Before that, Lehigh Acres still a prominent locale for Germans hosted the
largest German community. But that's changed. "There was a German guy here
with rental houses a number of years ago, and he had a total database of 3,000.
He advertised to (German) boaters and golfers and pilots, and he attracted more
affluent people."
People started to rent, then later they invested and stayed. Which is probably
why Schneider-Christians describes one of his current listings a
three-bedroom, two-bath Cape Coral home with a pool and a canal with Gulf access
as "inexpensive." Price: $379,000.
"This
is the kind of home that appeals strongly to Germans," he said. "A
million dollars is too much for a second home, but a lot of people could buy
this."
Until fairly recently, that German market remained relatively untapped. "When
I started (almost 15 years ago), I was one of the only German Realtors here,"
Schneider-Christians recalled. "Now there are more than 30."
City
growth booming on all fronts
Home,
warehouse, retail markets hot
By
DON RUANE
Published
on March 13, 2005
Cape Coral's luxury home market is reaching new heights along the riverfront
while warehouse space is expanding off Pine Island Road.
The city is in transition.
"Cape Coral has always been a sleepy little town. It's awakening now. A lot
of changes are coming up. It's not going to go backwards," said Donna
Eastman, president of the Women's Council of Realtors."If you're a citizen
of this city and you're interested in any growth, it's important as Realtors and
as citizens to be aware of what's going on," Eastman said.
There are retail shops, hotels and gated communities being developed that will
boost the city's status as a luxury market, Eastman said, reflecting on the
message of last week's FuturesCape. The market is hot, according to market
managers and developers who recapped progress and changes in their projects for
about 375 people who attended the event.
Not
everyone wants the luxury of a condo overlooking the Caloosahatchee River or
waterfront access, but Cape Coral has that option now for those who do, Eastman
said.
Growth drives retail development, and that says Cape Coral is a good place to
live, said city Economic Development Director Mike Jackson. It gets the
attention of company presidents who are thinking about moving their business,
Jackson said.
He predicted 2.6 million square feet of retail and commercial space will be
added to the city in the next three years.
"It's
magnificent to see what's happening," Jackson said. Just in the past two
years four restaurants and a deli have opened in the city. Two banks and a
75-room hotel. He attributed the changes to the city's rapid population growth.
Ninety percent of the units in the second of three planned 14-story condominiums
at Tarpon Point sold in four months, said Nick Cross, sales and marketing
manager. The units go for just about $800,000 to $2.7 million, but the building
doesn't exist yet. Tarpon Point is south of Rotary Park off Pelican Boulevard.
Contractors
are rushing to meet the demand for the condos. The first building is under
construction and expected to be completed in December.
"Every 10 days another floor is poured in building number one," Cross
said.
One of the biggest changes in the Tarpon Point complex of homes, condos and
restaurants near the Caloosahatchee River involves its plan for a hotel.
Grosse
Pointe Development changed its plan from a 100-suite, 19-story hotel to two
14-story buildings with a total of 204 units, Cross said. Grosse Pointe is
holding back 50 condominiums for use as hotel units. Buyers of the other units
also can arrange to rent them as hotel units, he said, but they will not be
required to do so.
Grosse Pointe has a letter of intent from Wyndham Resorts & Hotels to manage
the hotel.
Two
projects by developer Mel Wroten also are moving forward.
The 58-home Pinewood Lakes development for people who own large motor homes has
sold 18 units. Prices range from $450,000 to $800,000, Wroten said. The project
features large garages attached to homes by a breezeway. While the project at
nearby Santa Barbara Boulevard and Nicholas Parkway is landlocked, it will have
a 3-acre lake.
Wroten said he also is developing a $10.5 million project that will be a class A
business park with a retail section in front. The project is on the south side
of Pine Island Road across from the DQ Grill & Chill.
The business park units can have office space in front and warehouse space in
back, Jackson said. Cape Coral has 5,000 home-based businesses and some of them
might want to expand into one of the units, he added. The project will expand
the city's ability to create jobs, Jackson said.
The city
faces several challenges to keep the momentum going, Jackson said.
The city has to have roads that can handle the traffic, he said. Getting Pine
Island Road and Burnt Store Road widened are major goals, he said.
It might
be possible to do the Pine Island Road work before 2010, when the state plans on
starting the project. More property owners must donate the right of way, and the
city must agree to spend its money and be paid back later by the state.
The other major challenge is finding enough land to assemble in larger packages
for major projects. The city is developing incentives to encourage such assembly,
Jackson said. But one of the biggest competitors for such blocks of land is the
rapidly growing Lee County School District, he added
