Southwest Florida Developer Exemplifies Sustainable Land Stewardship, Conservation

Perhaps some have visited Disneyworld, attended a conference in Orlando, or changed planes in Miami. But to the vast majority of Americans, Florida is an unnecessary and distant appendage, and one easily bypassed when it comes to leisure destinations. Even the winter snowbirds are starting to migrate to Arizona, California and Mexico, or even Hawaii.

In all fairness, Florida is still the most mentioned retirement state in the country. Yet lately, it has become known as much for its tales of condo “flipping” by risk-taking investors who never entertain the thought of occupying them and developers who have used every trick in the book to squeeze the maximum number of units on a given piece of real estate.

Author Tom Kelly writes on Inman News that in this era, it is important to also focus on the stories about developers and builders who conduct business the right way and actually establish a philosophy of land stewardship as part of a business culture, not merely as a one-time solution for obtaining the permits to exploit a parcel.

While large developers such as the Bonita Bay Group have taken heat for being large and catering to upscale baby boomers (the group employs more than 1,500 individuals and is currently developing eight master-planned communities in the Southwest Florida housing market), it also has been recognized for responsible and innovative development. Bonita Bay has helped preserve and enhance environmental integrity on its sites, as recognized by the Urban Land Institute, Golf Digest and the Council for Sustainable Florida.

This vision can be traced to the company’s founder, David Shakarian, who is also the creator of the General Nutrition Centers (GNC) chain.

He has always been motivated by healthy living, and in 1979, Shakarian took the idea of a healthy environment and applied it to Southwest Florida real estate. Shakarian had vacationed with his family in the past, and his goal was to create a community where wetlands were preserved, natural flowways restored and water-conservation efforts practiced. He started the Bonita Bay Group, which quickly garnered the reputation as the most ecologically sensitive developer in the area, on the principle of protecting precious resources.

Bonita Bay, a 2,400-acre, master-planned development just north of Naples in Bonita Springs, was his first project. Located on Southwest Florida’s ecologically sensitive Gulf Coast, the property is the company’s flagship site and incorporates a range of delicate ecosystems, from fresh- and saltwater marshes to mangrove stands, a river and creek, and Estero Bay, which flows straight to the Gulf of Mexico.

“When he bought that property, people thought he was absolutely crazy. People said the property was too remote, too wet to develop, and nobody would ever want to live there. It might have been in the middle of nowhere at the time with a lot of challenges, but he simply found a way to make it work,” said David Lucas, a Harvard MBA graduate and Shakarian’s son-in-law who took over the business upon Shakarian’s death in 1984.

In 2010, fewer than 3,300 residences will have been built, a significantly lower density than the 9,240 units approved in the master plan. More than 1,400 acres of open space remain, along with 230 acres of lakes, vast nature preserves, and 12 miles of bicycle and walking paths. The off-site golf course, called Bonita Bay Club East, incorporates 895 acres of cypress wetlands, 190 acres of pine flats, hundreds of native sabal palms and open space.

No residential development will ever occur on the golf site.

“There were several lawsuits, and counter-lawsuits, with the previous developer over wildlife and wetlands issues,” said Nancy Payton, of the Florida Wildlife Federation. “The property had same sensitive issues yet the developer was reluctant to reduce the number and placement of housing units on the property.”

Payton said her agency worked out a settlement with the Bonita Bay Group when the company took over a trouble development in 2001. The parcel was tied up in court for months with both sides spending tens of thousands on legal fees. Payton said she feared all of the players involved could run out of money before any significant progress was ever made in the case.

“The Bonita Bay people basically came and asked ‘what would be possible’ if they obtained title to the land. I was surprised because no developer had done that before. They eventually purchased the property from the original owner and worked with us to reach a fair solution,” she said.

Florida Home Loan believes more agencies should follow Bonita Bay’s lead. It is wonderful to see that sustainable real estate developments and preserving Florida’s environmental integrity do not have to be mutually exclusive. The environment is part of our heritage in Florida, and if we want that to remain the case, these are steps that must be taken.

The demand for real estate has hurt the state’s conservation effort, but we can all help. Whether it’s a developer taking the time to consider the environmental impact of its actions, or private citizens downsizing, this is an attainable goal. If we all do our part, we can ensure that Florida will be a great place to live for many generations.