The Village of Estero has announced that roadway and intersection construction tied to the Woodfield mixed-use development will begin Tuesday, September 8, along Coconut Road just west of U.S. 41. As your local Estero Realtor team, we track any infrastructure work that touches daily commutes and access near active development corridors, and this project is worth knowing about if you live, work, or are searching for a home near this stretch of Coconut Road.

What's Starting September 8

According to the Village of Estero, construction is expected to last up to six months and includes a landscaped roundabout at Coconut Road and Walden Center Drive, along with new street lighting, irrigation and landscaping. The Village is urging residents to use caution when driving through the area once work begins.

How This Fits Into the Larger Woodfield Project

The roadwork is part of Phase 1 infrastructure for Woodfield, the 45.6-acre mixed-use development at the northwest corner of U.S. 41 and Coconut Road. We reported last month on FRP Development Corp and Woodfield Development starting vertical construction on the first phase, which includes roughly 296 apartment homes and 30,000 square feet of retail space, with initial units expected in the third quarter of 2027. At full build-out, Woodfield's overall plans call for roughly 600 dwelling units, 80,000 square feet of retail and dining space, and a boutique hotel, designed as a walkable town center directly across from Coconut Point.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

If your daily route runs through Coconut Road near U.S. 41, expect construction detours and slower traffic for up to six months starting September 8. For buyers evaluating homes near this corridor, it's a reasonable trade-off to weigh: short-term construction disruption against the long-term upside of new retail, dining and housing landing directly across from Coconut Point. For sellers nearby, continued visible progress on a project this size is another signal of sustained investment in the corridor. If you'd like to talk through how the Coconut Road work or the broader Woodfield project might affect a property you own or are considering, call Sky Coastal Realty at 239.745.8903 or visit our Estero Realtor page to get started.

Details on the Coconut Road construction timeline are drawn from an announcement by the Village of Estero. Read the original notice at estero-fl.gov. We'll continue to track the Woodfield project as construction progresses.

I-75 Widening Plans Show No Noise Walls for Estero's Brooks and Tidewater Communities

Nearly 200 people turned out Monday, August 31, to Estero Community Park to review the Florida Department of Transportation's plans for a $578 million widening of I-75 from Golden Gate Parkway in Collier County north to Alico Road in Lee County. As your local Estero Realtor team, we track anything that touches property values and daily life directly along this corridor, and one detail from Monday's meeting is already generating real concern: two Estero communities that front the interstate, the Brooks and Tidewater, are not currently slated to get a sound barrier.

What's Changing on I-75

FDOT's plan adds two express, or toll, lanes in each direction from Golden Gate Parkway to a point just short of Alico Road, along with auxiliary lanes running the entire length of the project so drivers making short trips between interchanges don't have to merge into the main travel lanes. The project is still in the design phase, with a public hearing expected in October or later this year and no construction start date set yet.

Why the Brooks and Tidewater Won't Get Sound Walls

Under FDOT's standards, a noise wall must reduce sound by at least five decibels, and the cost of that barrier can't exceed $64,000 per property that receives the benefit. FDOT's interstate community outreach manager, Brian Bollas, told residents that the Brooks does not meet the federal and state criteria required to qualify for a wall. Tidewater, a Del Webb community on the east side of the interstate south of the Estero Parkway bridge, faces the same outcome because its measured decibel levels fall short of the threshold. Several Tidewater residents said they only learned a few weeks ago that the widening would extend north past Corkscrew Road into their area, leaving little time to weigh in before the design was already this far along.

A Real Example of the Real Estate Impact

The stakes aren't abstract for homeowners along the corridor. Terri Jenstad, a Realtor who lives in Copperleaf in the Brooks, has a $1.45 million listing that backs directly to I-75. She said the home would likely already be under contract if not for road noise, and her prospective buyer wanted to see the outcome of Monday's meeting before moving forward. With no sound wall planned, she said, "I've got a buyer for it," but the missing noise mitigation is now a real factor in whether that deal closes.

What Happens Next

Residents who attended Monday's meeting, along with those at Tuesday's Collier County session and Wednesday's virtual meeting, were encouraged to submit public comment forms directly to FDOT. Several Brooks and Tidewater residents said they plan to keep pressing the issue, and the Village of Estero has reportedly been supporting residents' requests for reconsideration. FDOT says it will return to Southwest Florida for a public hearing in October or later, with pre-construction planning to follow; no construction date has been set.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

If you're buying or selling in a community that fronts I-75, including the Brooks, Tidewater, or other neighborhoods along this stretch, it's worth getting a direct answer on that section's noise wall status before you price a listing or write an offer. This is no longer a matter of speculation. For sellers whose homes back to the interstate, expect road noise and the sound-wall decision to come up directly in buyer negotiations, particularly with a widening project now moving toward construction. If you'd like to talk through how the I-75 project might affect a property you own or are considering along this corridor, call Sky Coastal Realty at 239.745.8903 or visit our Estero Realtor page to get started.

Details on the I-75 widening project, FDOT's public meetings and resident reaction are drawn from reporting by WGCU News and WINK News. Read the original coverage at wgcu.org and winknews.com. We'll continue to track the project as it heads toward a public hearing this fall.

Kingston in Estero Sets October 17 Grand Opening for First Model Homes

The 7,600-acre Kingston community east of Estero has moved from cleared legal hurdle to hard date on the calendar. Cameratta Companies announced this week that Kingston will host a Grand Opening celebration on Saturday, October 17, when the first completed model homes from three national builders open for public tours. As your local Estero Realtor team, we've been tracking Kingston since an August settlement resolved a legal challenge to the project, and this is the first firm milestone homebuyers can actually plan around.

What's Opening October 17

The Grand Opening runs from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM on October 17 at Kingston South, with no RSVP required. Homebuyers will be able to walk through newly built model homes from Pulte Homes, Lennar and Neal Communities and preview the planned resort-style amenities, which include an indoor sports complex, outdoor recreation space, a saloon-style venue for live entertainment and dining, and a resort pool with waterfalls and water slides. Kingston is located roughly 10 miles east of Interstate 75 along Corkscrew Road.

The Builders and Housing Options

Kingston South is planned for 3,625 homes across three builders. Pulte is offering single-family homes from three design collections ranging from 1,518 to 4,272 square feet. Lennar will build villas and single-family homes across four collections from 1,462 to 3,945 square feet. Neal Communities will offer villas and single-family homes across five collections from 1,433 to 4,443 square feet. Adjacent to Kingston South, Taylor Morrison is building Esplanade at Kingston, a 1,285-home community with 14 floor plans across four collections of condos, villas and single-family homes ranging from 1,329 to 4,591 square feet, along with a spa, resort pool and culinary center.

A Community Built Around Conservation

Kingston spans more than 7,600 acres, with over 3,750 of those acres designated as environmental preserves and wildlife habitat. At full build-out, the community is planned for up to 10,000 residences and 700,000 square feet of commercial space for shopping, dining and services. Kingston will also include a K-12 tuition-free public charter school, True North Classical Academy, designed with golf-cart accessibility; Kingston residents will receive enrollment preference when the school's first phase opens in 2028.

Part of a Bigger Corkscrew Road Push

Kingston is the fifth Estero community developed by Cameratta Companies along the Corkscrew Road corridor, joining Verdana Village, The Place at Corkscrew, Corkscrew Shores and The Preserve at Corkscrew. The August settlement that cleared Kingston's legal path required Cameratta to purchase roughly 98 acres off Carter Road as panther habitat, a cost borne by future Kingston homebuyers rather than taxpayers.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

For buyers, October 17 is the first chance to walk through completed product from three different national builders in one of the region's largest master-planned communities, which makes it a useful day to compare floor plans, finishes and early pricing side by side before phases sell out. For sellers near the Corkscrew corridor, continued visible progress on a project this size is another sign that buyer demand for the area isn't slowing down, which is worth factoring into how you think about timing and pricing nearby. If you're curious how Kingston's opening might affect your own plans along Corkscrew Road, call Sky Coastal Realty at 239.745.8903 or visit our Estero Realtor page to get started.

Details on Kingston's Grand Opening, builder lineup and community plans are drawn from reporting by Florida Weekly. Read the original coverage at floridaweekly.com. We'll continue to track Kingston's progress along the Corkscrew Road corridor.

For the last several years, the first question out of most buyers’ mouths in Naples, Bonita Springs, and Estero hasn’t been about square footage or school zones — it’s been “what’s insurance going to cost me?” That question is finally starting to get a better answer. 2026 marks the first meaningful softening in Florida’s property insurance market in over a decade, and it’s worth understanding what’s actually changed before you assume your next home here will carry the same insurance sticker shock as a 2023 purchase.

The Numbers Behind the Shift

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation — Florida’s insurer of last resort — cut rates by 8.7% statewide in 2026, the first rate decrease the company has issued since 2015. More than 330,000 Citizens policyholders saw their premiums go down rather than up this year. Just as telling is what’s happening to Citizens’ policy count itself: it has fallen from a peak of roughly 1.42 million policies in 2023 to around 395,000 by January 2026, as private insurers re-enter the Florida market and take policies back off the state’s books.

That last point matters more than the headline rate cut. Citizens was never meant to be Florida’s biggest insurer — it ballooned because private carriers were pulling out of the state entirely. Their return signals that insurers see Florida, and by extension Southwest Florida, as a market they’re willing to underwrite again. That’s a meaningfully different signal than a single year’s rate adjustment.

Naples and Collier County Still Carry a Premium

None of this means insurance in Naples is suddenly cheap. Homeowners here still pay an average of roughly $9,660 a year for a policy with $300,000 in dwelling coverage, well above the national average of about $2,592 for the same coverage. Across Collier County more broadly — which includes Naples, Marco Island, and inland communities — annual premiums for similar coverage typically run $4,000 to $6,800, with coastal and waterfront properties still facing the highest pricing given their direct hurricane and storm surge exposure.

Location within the county still drives a lot of the variance. Homes with direct Gulf or bay frontage, or those still recovering their claims history from Hurricane Ian’s storm surge, remain in a different pricing tier than comparable homes even a mile or two inland. If you’re comparing two similar listings — one in Old Naples near the water and one in North Naples or inland Golden Gate Estates — expect the insurance quote to be one of the biggest cost differentiators, not just the purchase price.

What This Means If You’re House Hunting Right Now

For buyers who’ve been waiting on the sidelines specifically because of insurance sticker shock, 2026 is the first year in a while where that math is trending in your favor rather than against you. A softening market also means more competition among carriers for your business, which is worth using to your advantage — get quotes from at least three carriers, including at least one of the private insurers that have newly re-entered Florida, rather than defaulting to whatever policy the seller currently carries.

It’s also a good year to ask sellers directly for their current insurance declarations page during due diligence. A home with a clean claims history, updated roof, impact windows, and other wind-mitigation features will often qualify for a materially better rate than an identical home without them — sometimes a difference of thousands of dollars a year. Read more in our guide to Hurricane-Ready Homes in Naples, Bonita Springs & Estero.

What This Means If You’re Selling

If your home has hurricane-resilient features — a roof replaced in the last 10-15 years, impact windows or shutters, or flood mitigation upgrades — this is a good year to have your insurance agent run a wind mitigation inspection and put the resulting discount documentation in your listing packet. Buyers are increasingly insurance-savvy, and a seller who can hand over a favorable quote alongside the listing removes one of the biggest sources of buyer hesitation in this market.

The Bigger Picture

A single year of rate relief doesn’t erase the structural reality that Southwest Florida is a high hurricane-risk market, and premiums here will likely always run above the national average. But the direction matters. After nearly a decade of the market moving in one direction — up, with fewer carriers willing to write policies at all — 2026 is the first real evidence that the trend is reversing. For buyers who’ve been pricing insurance as a worst-case, permanent cost, it’s worth getting fresh quotes before writing off a home, or a neighborhood, based on numbers that may already be a year or two out of date.

If you’re weighing a purchase in Naples, Bonita Springs, or Estero and want a realistic read on what a specific property’s insurance and total carrying costs are likely to look like, that’s exactly the kind of local detail we walk buyers through every day. Call Sky Coastal Realty at (239) 745-8903 and let’s talk through the numbers on any home you’re considering.

FRP and Woodfield Development Begin Vertical Construction on Coconut Road Mixed-Use Project in Estero

Vertical construction is officially underway on the first phase of the Coconut Road mixed-use development in the Village of Estero, developers FRP Development Corp and Woodfield Development announced on August 25. The project sits at 23281 Lyden Drive along U.S. 41, directly across from Coconut Point. As your local Estero Realtor team, we track large-scale development like this closely, because a project of this size reshapes housing supply, retail options and neighborhood character along the Coconut Point corridor for years to come.

What's Being Built

The completed development is planned to include roughly 600 apartment homes, 80,000 square feet of retail space, 20,000 square feet of office space and a boutique 190-room hotel, designed by Dover Kohl & Partners as a walkable town center. The first phase now under construction includes about 296 apartment homes in a mix of three- and four-story buildings, along with 30,000 square feet of retail space. Initial residential units are expected to deliver in the third quarter of 2027. The developers secured an $81.5 million construction loan from Santander Bank, with Brooks & Freund serving as general contractor alongside Humphreys & Partners Architects and interior design firm ID & Design International.

Why Developers Are Betting on This Corridor

Woodfield Development's Todd Jacobus said commencing construction "underscores our confidence in the continued growth and long-term strength of the Estero market." FRP's David H. deVilliers III described the site as "a well-located property in a growing market where thoughtful development can create meaningful value," pointing to the location directly across from Coconut Point, the roughly 1.2-million-square-foot open-air retail and dining destination anchored by more than 125 stores. The site also offers regional connectivity via U.S. 41 and Interstate 75, linking it to Naples and Fort Myers.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

A project of this scale adds meaningful new apartment, retail and eventual office and hospitality inventory directly across from one of Estero's biggest commercial draws, which is worth watching whether you're comparing rental options, weighing resale competition nearby, or simply gauging how much continued investment this corridor is attracting. With initial units not expected until the third quarter of 2027, this is a multi-year build, so it's a good factor to weigh into timing if you're considering a purchase near Coconut Point. If you're curious how this development might affect property values or your own plans near Coconut Point, call Sky Coastal Realty at 239.745.8903 or visit our Estero Realtor page to get started.

Details on the Coconut Road development, including project scope, financing and the development team, are drawn from reporting by Connect CRE and Yield PRO. Read the original coverage at connectcre.com and yieldpro.com. We'll continue to track the Coconut Road project as construction progresses.

Estero sellers who've been waiting for the numbers to turn in their favor just got their answer. The three-month rolling median price in Estero reached $510,000 in July 2026, up 1.6% year-over-year — but look at the single month alone, and the picture is more dramatic: July's median jumped 11.1% to $507,500 compared to June. For sellers deciding when and how to price a listing, that acceleration is worth understanding before you set a number.

Why One Month's Data Is Worth Watching Closely

A single month's jump can be noise, or it can be the leading edge of a real shift. In Estero's case, the surrounding numbers point toward the latter. Months of supply in Estero has fallen to 3.6 — tighter than the broader Fort Myers/Naples region's 5.0 months for single-family homes — putting the market on the edge of full seller's-market territory. Pending sales across the Bonita Springs/Estero MLS spiked 37% year-over-year, and roughly 63.7% of closed sales were cash transactions, a sign of serious, well-qualified buyers rather than financing-contingent lookers.

Put together, the story isn't "prices are volatile" — it's "demand is outrunning what's available," and pricing is starting to reflect it in real time.

What's Driving Estero Specifically

Two forces are converging on Estero in particular. First, the "wealth migration" trend — affluent buyers relocating from high-tax states — continues to target Southwest Florida, and a meaningful share are choosing Estero as a value alternative to fully priced-out Naples and Bonita Springs beachfront markets.

Second, new luxury supply is reshaping the comps sellers get compared against. The Ritz-Carlton Residences at Estero Bay — 224 units across two towers priced from $3 million to $16 million — are on track to complete later this year. A project at that price point doesn't just add inventory; it recalibrates what "luxury in Estero" means to appraisers and buyers alike, which tends to lift perceived value across nearby resale listings even at far more modest price points.

What This Means If You're Pricing a Listing

Recent comps matter more than year-old ones. If your agent is pulling comparables from six or twelve months ago, you're likely leaving money on the table in a market moving this fast month-to-month. Ask specifically for closings from the last 60 days.

Cash buyers change your negotiating leverage. With nearly two-thirds of closings paid in cash, appraisal contingencies are less often the thing that kills a deal — which means a well-priced, well-presented listing has real room to field competing offers rather than settling for the first one.

Overpricing still backfires. Even in a tightening market, Southwest Florida buyers have shown they'll pass on listings priced ahead of the data and reward the ones priced to it. A tight market rewards accuracy, not aggression.

What This Means If You're Buying

If you're on the buying side, the same data cuts the other way: waiting for prices to soften further isn't supported by what July showed. Homes that are priced correctly in Estero right now are moving, and the gap between Estero's median ($510,000) and Bonita Springs' ($560,000-$600,000) still makes Estero the relative value play for buyers who want Gulf-access proximity without the higher price tag next door.

The Bottom Line

Estero's July price data — an 11.1% single-month jump against a backdrop of 3.6 months of supply and a 37% spike in pending sales — is a signal sellers shouldn't price around casually. Whether you're getting ready to list or trying to figure out what your home is really worth in today's market, the numbers argue for a current, data-backed conversation rather than a guess.

Wondering what your specific Estero property would list for this fall? Call Sky Coastal Realty at (239) 745-8903 and we'll walk through the comps for your street, not just the countywide averages.

Downtown Bonita Springs' oldest home is on the move. On August 18, the city's Planning and Zoning Board approved a Certificate of Appropriateness allowing the Bonita Springs Historical Society to relocate the 1915 McSwain Home from its longtime site on Old 41 Road to a new property on Pine Avenue, near West Terry Street. As your local Bonita Springs Realtor team, we track projects like this because how a fast-growing downtown corridor handles its oldest landmarks says a lot about the character buyers and sellers can expect from the neighborhood going forward.

What's Moving and Why

Joseph and Elizabeth McSwain built the wood-frame home in 1915 along what was then Heitman Avenue, a dirt road that later became part of the original Tamiami Trail and is now Old 41 Road. The property sits in the city's T5 Downtown transect, a high-intensity mixed-use zone now filled with restaurants, bars and live music venues. The Bonita Springs Historical Society, which has operated the home as a museum since the Humphries family donated it in 2011, says stewardship and security challenges, limited room for visitors and school groups, and the loss of much of the home's historic landscape made a new setting necessary.

A New Heritage Campus on Pine Avenue

The approved destination is a corner property at 26961 Pine Avenue with frontage on East Terry Street, owned by the Oglesby family, descendants of the original McSwain family through Elizabeth McSwain's daughter Inez and granddaughter Elsie Oglesby Cooley. The family is providing the land as a long-term preservation site. Concept plans for the site describe a "Bonita Springs Heritage Campus" with heritage gardens, native plantings, an event lawn, outdoor learning space, a chickee pavilion, and improved parking and ADA access, though those plans remain conceptual. The Historical Society says it hopes to be in the new location by next spring, depending on permitting.

What Happens Next

Board approval clears the way for the Historical Society to pursue the building and engineering permits required for the move, not an immediate relocation. The plan calls for the 111-year-old home to be documented and structurally braced, transported under controlled conditions, and set on a new engineered foundation, with preservation professionals monitoring the process throughout. No physical moving date has been announced yet, and the project is funded by the nonprofit Historical Society rather than the City of Bonita Springs.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

Preservation moves like this are one more sign of how downtown Bonita Springs is managing rapid change along Old 41: making room for new restaurants and nightlife while finding a way to keep its oldest landmarks intact rather than losing them to development pressure. For buyers and sellers near the Downtown corridor, that kind of deliberate planning tends to support the area's long-term character and appeal. If you're curious how a property near downtown Bonita Springs fits into this evolving corridor, call us at 239.745.8903 or visit our Bonita Springs Realtor page to get started.

Details on the Planning and Zoning Board's August 18 approval and the Oglesby family's connection to the McSwain family are drawn from WINK News' reporting. Read the original coverage at winknews.com. We'll continue to track the McSwain Home relocation as permitting progresses and a moving date is announced.

If you've been watching Naples real estate headlines and feeling like you're getting mixed signals, you're not imagining it. Depending on which segment of the market you're looking at, Naples is either in the middle of a seller's market or a buyer's market right now -- and the dividing line is whether the property has an HOA-run building attached to it.

Here's what the latest data shows, why single-family homes and condos have split in two different directions, and what it means whether you're buying or selling in Naples this year.

The Numbers: A Market Split in Two

According to the Naples Area Board of REALTORS' June 2026 report, single-family home prices climbed to a median of $750,000, up 7.1% from a year earlier. Condos moved the opposite direction, with a median price of $442,500, down 1.7% year-over-year.

Inventory tells the same story. Single-family supply sits at roughly 5.9 months, while condo supply is looser at about 6.7 months. Overall, the June report was one of the strongest Junes Naples has seen in five years, with closed sales up 16.5% over June 2025 and total inventory down 23.4%. But that overall strength is carried almost entirely by the single-family side of the market.

Why Single-Family Homes Are Outperforming

Tighter supply is the simplest explanation. With less than six months of inventory, well-priced single-family homes are seeing more competition and holding their value better than they were a year ago. Buyers who want land, privacy, and a home that isn't tied to a shared building's finances or governance are competing for a shrinking pool of listings, and prices are responding accordingly.

This isn't a Naples-only story, either. The same buyer preference for single-family inventory has been showing up in Bonita Springs and Estero, where months of supply in several communities have compressed well below where they sat two years ago. Naples is simply the market with the longest, most consistent data trail through NABOR, which makes the single-family-versus-condo divergence easiest to see clearly here first.

Why Condos Are Cooling

Condos are dealing with a different set of pressures. Florida's post-Surfside reforms require condo buildings three stories or taller that are more than 30 years old to complete milestone structural inspections and fully fund their reserves rather than waiving or underfunding them the way many associations did in the past. For buildings that hadn't kept up with major maintenance, that's translated into higher monthly HOA dues and, in some cases, large special assessments landing on current owners and showing up as red flags for prospective buyers.

At the same time, downtown Naples has a wave of new condo construction adding fresh inventory to the market -- see our recent look at what's rising on Fifth Avenue South. New units compete directly with older resale condos, and buyers now have the option to pay a premium for a building with no deferred maintenance and modern reserves instead of gambling on an older association's finances.

What This Means If You're Buying

If you're shopping for a condo, this is a market where you can afford to be selective and negotiate. But leverage only helps if you know what you're negotiating around: ask for the building's most recent milestone inspection report, its current reserve study, and whether any special assessments have been levied or discussed in the past two years. A condo priced well below its neighbors is sometimes a bargain and sometimes a warning sign -- the paperwork will tell you which.

If you're shopping for a single-family home, the calculus flips. With inventory this tight, well-priced listings are moving quickly, and buyers who aren't pre-approved and ready to act are losing out on the homes they actually want.

What This Means If You're Selling

Single-family sellers are in a strong position and can generally price with confidence based on recent comparable sales. Condo sellers need to be more deliberate: get ahead of buyer questions by having your building's inspection and reserve documentation ready before you list, and price based on where the condo market actually is today rather than where it was a year ago.

Bottom Line

Naples isn't one market right now -- it's two, moving in opposite directions for very identifiable reasons. Single-family inventory is tight and prices are climbing; condo inventory is looser and buildings with strong financials are increasingly what separates a condo that sells from one that sits. Buyers weighing storm readiness and insurance costs as part of that condo decision should also see our recent breakdown of flood zones and wind mitigation across the area.

If you're trying to figure out where your specific property, or your search, fits into this split market, call Sky Coastal Realty at (239) 745-8903. We'll walk you through the numbers for your exact price point and neighborhood before you list or make an offer.

Bonita Springs voters have settled the question that's hung over the Bonita Estero Rail Trail (BERT) for more than a year: on August 18, they approved the $35 million bond referendum that clears the way for the city to buy its share of the old Seminole Gulf Railway corridor and begin building the trail. According to Lee County's official election results, voters backed the bonds 67.88% to 32.12%, out of 9,913 votes cast in the special election held alongside the August primary.

What the Vote Authorizes

The approved bond issue authorizes the City of Bonita Springs to issue up to $35 million in general obligation bonds, repaid through property taxes over as long as 30 years, to fund its roughly $28.6 million share of a $60 million regional purchase of 11.4 miles of inactive rail corridor. Estero and Collier County had already approved their own portions of the purchase, leaving Bonita Springs as the deciding vote on whether the full, three-jurisdiction trail gets built. With the "yes" vote now recorded by Lee County, all three pieces of the corridor purchase are in place.

What Happens Next

Passage of the bond moves the project from a ballot question to a construction timeline: city officials have said the next steps are closing on the corridor acquisition and beginning Phase 1 design and construction of the multi-use trail for runners, walkers and cyclists. The pending federal lawsuit filed by landowners along the corridor, who argue the rail-to-trail conversion can trigger compensation claims under railbanking law, is separate from the bond vote and remains unresolved. We'll continue to track it as it moves through the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

Approval of the bond means homeowners with an average-value Bonita Springs home (city officials estimated around $441,000) should expect property taxes to rise somewhere between $45 and $88 a year, depending on the bond's repayment term. In exchange, both Bonita Springs and Estero gain a rare amenity that touches both cities: a dedicated, roughly 11-mile walking and cycling corridor connecting downtown Bonita Springs to Estero and, eventually, the broader Florida Gulf Coast Trail network. Amenities like this tend to become selling points over time, much as Riverside Park already is for homes near downtown Bonita. If you're weighing how proximity to the future BERT corridor might factor into a purchase or a listing, call us at 239.745.8903 or visit our Bonita Springs Realtor page to get started.

Vote totals are drawn from Lee County's official Election Night Reporting for the August 18, 2026 primary. Background on the referendum and the pending landowner lawsuit is drawn from earlier reporting by WGCU News and Florida Weekly; read that coverage at wgcu.org and floridaweekly.com. We'll continue to update our coverage of BERT as construction moves forward.

A federal lawsuit that had cast uncertainty over one of Southwest Florida's largest master-planned communities has been resolved. National Audubon Society and Cameratta Companies — the developer behind both Verdana Village and the 10,000-home Kingston community — reached a settlement on August 13 that clears the way for Kingston's first model homes to open on Corkscrew Road within the next two months.

What the Settlement Covers

Audubon sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in August 2025 after the agency issued Cameratta a permit for Kingston, a roughly 6,700-acre community planned for about 10,000 homes just north of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. A federal judge denied Audubon's request for an emergency injunction in January, and construction continued. Under the settlement, Cameratta has agreed to purchase about 98 acres off Carter Road to preserve as panther habitat and to give up a 100-foot easement that would have allowed a road connecting Lee and Collier counties through the Sanctuary. Homebuyers at Kingston, not taxpayers, will absorb the cost of the land purchase.

A Corkscrew Road Corridor Already on Our Radar

Kingston sits along the same Corkscrew Road growth corridor as Verdana Village, and Lennar, Neal Communities, Pulte and Taylor Morrison are all building in its early phases. With the legal challenge resolved, Kingston is on track to welcome its first model homes this fall, adding to the wave of major-developer commitment already reshaping the Estero side of the Corkscrew corridor.

Not Everyone Sees It as a Win

The settlement has critics. Matthew Schwartz of the South Florida Wildlands Association, which is separately suing over a similar project near Big Cypress, pointed out that the preserved acreage is a small fraction of Kingston's total footprint and called it "a huge loss" for panther habitat. Cameratta's attorney described the outcome as one that worked well for both sides.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

For buyers watching Kingston, Verdana Village or the wider Corkscrew corridor, the settlement removes a source of legal uncertainty that could have delayed construction or sales timelines — generally good news for anyone hoping to buy new construction in the area this fall. For sellers of existing homes nearby, continued large-scale development is a signal that buyer demand for the corridor isn't slowing down. If you're weighing a purchase near Corkscrew Road or wondering how nearby development affects your home's value, call us at 239.745.8903 or visit our Estero Realtor page to get started.

Details on the settlement, its terms and reaction from conservation groups are drawn from reporting by Gulfshore Business. Read the original coverage at gulfshorebusiness.com.