Developer pays record $100 million for 1,745 acres of raw land in Cape Coral

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Developer pays record $100 million for 1,745 acres of raw land in Cape Coral

A 1,745-acre stretch of raw land has sold in Cape Coral, fetching a record price of $100 million.

The price is a record not just for the city, but all of Lee County.

Known as the Hudson Creek property, it’s already approved for a massive mixed-used development, with up to 3,500 homes and as much as 425,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, along with other commercial uses, including a 500-room hotel.

Other approved uses: 150,000 square feet of offices, an 800-bed assisted living center and a 3,000-student university.

Justin Thibaut and Billy Rollins of Fort Myers-based LSI Companies brokered the lucrative deal.

The land sits in the northwest Cape, east of Burnt Store Road, between Jacaranda Parkway North and Chiquita Boulevard. It borders large state-owned preservation areas on several sides.

Aerial of Hudson Creek site purchased for $100 million in Cape Coral.

“The Hudson Creek property ***** represents the largest unimproved land transaction in Lee County and will serve as a much-needed location to deliver housing to one of the most active MSAs in the United States,” Thibtaut said in an email.

“In addition, the 200-acre mixed-use component fronting Burnt Store Road will likely become home to a vibrant commercial/retail and residential development,” he said.

Justin Thibaut, LSI Cos.

Earnest efforts to develop the land began more than five years ago.

For LSI, securing the deal, with the right buyer, took about two years, Thibaut said.

A crucial step in the ***** of the property came in March 2023, when city council unanimously approved the zoning changes necessary for the development to move forward.

“Very few, if any, properties of this size with zoning remain in Lee County,” Thibaut said.

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The property’s new owner is the Forestar Group, which operates as a subsidiary of D.R. Horton, which is one of America’s largest homebuilders, with a strong presence in Southwest Florida.

Based in Arlington, Texas, Forestar is a residential lot development company. A representative for the company could not immediately be reached for comment about the purchase.

The listing price was $125 million.

The property had been owned by an affiliate of the Pinnacle Development Group, which purchased a big part of it from the Zemel family, one of the earliest major landowners in Southwest Florida, for $3 million at auction in 2016.

In 2010, Pinnacle Development bought Cascades, a 570-unit, 55-plus community at River Hall, out of bankruptcy for $4.95 million.

Matthew Simmons, a managing partner with Maxwell, Hendry & Simmons, a commercial and residential appraisal and consulting firm in Fort Myers, said the Hudson Creek property was the “largest available opportunity for development in Southwest Florida.”

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“It’s a really positive sign toward projecting our economic and population growth that Forestar was eager to acquire it,” he said.

Describing the property as “enormous,” he offered up these comparisons to put the development potential for as many as 3,500 homes into context:

Verdana Village on Corkscrew Road in Estero will eventually include up to 2,400 single-family homes.

The Vineyards in North Naples has a little more than 2,700 homes.

Bonita Bay in Bonita Springs has less than 3,300 homes.

He added that Babcock Ranch in Lee and Charlotte counties celebrated its 4,000th home ***** this year, and the town of Ave Maria in Collier County reached the 5,000 mark.

“Babcock Ranch and Ave Maria will eventually be much larger, but that number of actual homes sold to date gives perspective on the scale of development opportunity that exists at Hudson Creek,” Simmons said.

The lack of planning in creating Cape Coral, he said, has caused challenges, but this new mixed-use project has been well thought out.

“Hudson Creek is Cape Coral’s biggest opportunity to have a thoughtful large-scale development program since the Rosen brothers came to town in 1957. That’s really no exaggeration,” Simmons said.

He said he won’t be surprised to see D.R. Horton as one of the “early phase” homebuilders, given its connections to Forestar.

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While it’s unclear when exactly dirt will start moving on the development, Thibaut doesn’t expect it to be long.

“All approvals, but for the development order, are in place, and I assume work will commence in 2025,” he said.

The new owners will be required to complete multiple water and sewer extensions, which will “fast track plans within the city of Cape Coral to do so,” benefiting existing residents, Thibaut said.

Looking ahead, he’s excited to see the “future of the Hudson Creek property and what’s to come.”

This story has been updated to include additional information.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press:

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