Four homebuilders expect to construct total of 1,000 homes at WildBlue on Corkscrew Road
Brittany Carloni, Naples Daily News | Published 7:00 a.m. ET Aug. 10, 2018 | Updated 12:09 p.m. ET Aug. 10, 2018
Four homebuilding companies have committed to construct the 1,000 homes planned at WildBlue, a proposed gated community on east Corkscrew Road in unincorporated Lee County.
The WildBlue homebuilders are Lennar Corporation, Pulte Homes, Stock Development and WCI Communities — a Lennar-owned company.
Land development, such as clearing and dirt churning, has started within WildBlue, said Danielle Tocco, vice president of communications for Lennar Corporation, the master planner for WildBlue.
Lennar and Pulte will build the first model homes at WildBlue, which are planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2019, Tocco said.
Home models built by WCI Communities and Stock Development will come later in 2019.
Homes within WildBlue are planned throughout the nearly 3,000-acre property, which is just east of the Village of
Estero. The community borders Corkscrew Road to the south and Alico Road to the north.
WildBlue will include 872 acres of lakes and 1,329 acres of preserve land spread throughout the community, in addition to other on-site amenities, according to a Lennar release.
Each of the four companies are planning homes in the varying sizes and price ranges:
- Lennar will offer homes from 1,800 to 3,800 square feet at a price range from $400,000 to $700,000.
- Pulte Homes is planning homes from 1,671 to 3,900 square feet at a price range from $400,000 to over $1 million.
- WCI Communities will offer homes from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet at a price range of $400,000 to $1 million.
- Stock Development will offer homes from 2,500 to more than 4,000 square feet at prices from $600,000 to more than $4 million.
Homebuilders bought WildBlue property in May
Lee County property records show Lennar, Pulte and Stock each purchased WildBlue land in May from the property’s original developer, Alico East Fund, which is controlled by Private Equity Group of Fort Myers.
Lennar Corporation owns the largest parcel of WildBlue at just over 1,900 acres, which includes the biggest lake in the community, property records show.
Lennar got involved in WildBlue because south Fort Myers and Estero are “highly desirable places to live,” Tocco said.
“There’s a lot to offer,” she said. “They’ve always been home to Lennar, and we continue to find ways to help the area grow.”
Lennar-owned WCI Communities, which will construct homes within WildBlue, does not own property in the development, according to property records.
CalAtlantic Group, another Lennar company, purchased just over 700 acres of WildBlue from Alico East Fund for $27.5 million in December. CalAtlantic merged with Lennar in February.
A representative of Stock Development said the company plans to build 148 homes on land at WildBlue, but directed other questions to Lennar.
Pulte Homes will construct 256 homes on 220 acres of company-owned land in WildBlue, according to a Pulte news release.
Pulte plans to build homes similar to what the company is currently constructing at Corkscrew Shores, another community on east Corkscrew Road, said Richard McCormick, president of PulteGroup’s Southwest Florida division.
McCormick described WildBlue as a “partnership” between the community’s homebuilders.
“I think it’s a really exciting project,” he said. “It’s a large project and It will be highly visible.”
Lee County says it has initial plans for park near WildBlue
In 2015, Lee County commissioners approved a development agreement that allowed Alico East Fund to build up to 1,096 single-family homes and 40,000-square-feet of retail on the 2,960-acre site at WildBlue.
Alico East Fund in the agreement also granted Lee County 488 acres for a public park and emergency services use.
Lee County acquired the land for the park in August 2016. The county parcel is located just south of Alico Road in the northwest corner of the WildBlue development.
Lee County Parks & Recreation has initial concepts for the land, but is still discussing them, county spokeswoman Betsy Clayton wrote in an email.
In Estero, residents have long protested development on Corkscrew Road east of the south Lee County village.
Village residents have especially voiced concerns about how increased development will impact traffic on Corkscrew Road, which narrows to two lanes east of Interstate 75.
Lee County has begun work on four interim improvements to east Corkscrew Road, which includes installing electronic speed signs and creating a westbound to southbound left turn lane on Corkscrew Road near the entrance to The Preserve at Corkscrew.
Those improvements will help road safety in the area as traffic increases due to construction, said Estero Councilman Jim Wilson, who represents Estero communities on east Corkscrew Road.
Lee County expects to select a designer in about four months for the county’s project to four-lane Corkscrew Road, Clayton said.
The project will be segmented into two phases, Clayton said. The stretch of road from Ben Hill Griffin Parkway to gated community Bella Terra would be phase one. Phase two would be from Bella Terra to Alico Road.
Once a designer has been selected for the Corkscrew Road project, design of the first phase will be completed in 18 months, and phase two design should be completed six months later, Clayton said.
Lee County expects to begin construction of the first phase of the project in late 2020, Clayton said.
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