Bonita Springs

Home Sweet Home       Find a Realtor       Find a Company       Vital Stats       Rain & Shine       Job Market       Class Notes       Getting Around

Great Outdoors    Good Sports    Hot Times in the City    Shop 'til You Drop    Nightlife    College Scene    Just for Seniors

The area seems able to combine--almost effortlessly--the best of the old and the new. Between Ponce de Leon's first visit in 1513 and Thomas Edison's 1886 arrival in Fort Myers, the region developed slowly. Since then, the pace has quickened; other areas of Lee County have grown rapidly, especially Cape Coral, only a few decades old and already the county's biggest city. The neighboring islands of Sanibel and Captiva, known worldwide for their shelling and natural beauty, have attracted many to the area. Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Springs, both in the south section of the county, add to the charm and choices of the Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

Home Sweet Home

"Gateway to the Gulf" signs greet you as you enter Bonita Springs. The housing market is experiencing vigorous growth with many new communities under development.

Bonita Springs offers a multitude of housing alternatives, from a cozy beach cottage to an estate home in a gated community. A one-bedroom condominium on the beach can be found for a little over $100,000. Luxury homes can be $1 million-plus. Golf course communities offer condominiums from the low $70s and single-family homes from $115,000 and up. Residences in exclusive, gated communities that feature more amenities are priced substantially higher. The median sales price of an existing single-family home in the Fort Myers/Cape Coral Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was $106,600 during 1999, an 8 percent increase since1998.

Vital Stats

Bonita Springs, along with the rest of Lee County, is included in the Fort Myers/Cape Coral Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).
Unless otherwise specified, numbers are for the MSA.

Population: 392,895
Median age: 44.9
New citizens: 8,700 annually
New job creation: 2.5 percent
Unemployment rate: 2.6 percent in August, 1999
Cost of living: 97.15 percent (U.S. average=100 percent)
Per capita income: $25,144 in 1998
Median household effective buying income: $31,904

Rain & Shine

Weather cooperates with the many nature lovers who winter here or live in Bonita Springs year-round. It's warm and wonderful. Average annual temperature is 73.9 degrees Fahrenheit. The spring/summer average is 84 degrees; the fall/winter average is a very pleasant 71 degrees. It's a rare winter evening when the temperature drops much below 50 degrees. In fact, the average low for December is 54 degrees; for January and February it's 53 degrees.

The average water temperature along Lee County's 50 miles of gulfcoast shoreline and 100 miles of island coast is 77.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Gentle gulf breezes and an occasional light rain characterize October through May, but from June through September it usually rains more than eight inches monthly. The average annual rainfall is 54 inches, but the rain is welcome. Florida's rainy season arrives simultaneously with summer's heat and helps cool things off with afternoon thunderstorms.

Job Market

Tourism, financial investments from retirees and construction activity combine with agriculture, retail, education and health care to fuel the local economy. The top 10 employers are the School Board of Lee County (7,233), Lee Memorial Health System Healthcare (3,698), Publix Super Markets, Inc.(3,037), Columbia / HCA (3,005), (The Mariner Group / South Seas Resorts (2,000), Lee County Board of Commissioners (1,705), Lee County Health & Rehabilitative Services (1,553), City of Cape Coral (1,291), WalMart Corporation, (1,269) and Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. (1,200).

Because they live so close to neighboring Collier County and only a short drive from Naples, the county seat, many Bonita Springs residents work for both public and private employers in Collier County.

Class Notes

Extensive information about the schools in this area is online at the state's Department of Education (http://www.firn.edu/doe/doehome.htm). There you'll discover everything you'll need to know about Florida schools -- in general and in particular. All you need is the name of your county and the names of the schools students from your neighborhood attend.

Use links from the DOE home page for general information about entrance requirements, immunizations and so forth.

For the nitty-gritty details that really matter, click on the logo for the "Florida School Indicators Report."

College Scene

Florida's 10th university and one of America's newest, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), opened August 25, 1997 on a 760-acre site just northeast of Bonita Springs. The university, which is close to both the Southwest Florida International Airport and Interstate 75--yet not far from the Everglades--serves all of southwest Florida. About 3,000 students enrolled for the first semester. Most were upperclassmen who transferred from the Fort Myers campus of Tampa's University of South Florida (USF). In fact, USF's Fort Myers campus was absorbed by the new school.

FGCU has four colleges--Arts and Sciences, Business, Health Professions and Professional Studies--and several graduate programs that lead to a master's degree. Two doctoral programs are currently offered. Although there is one dorm on campus that houses 250 students, more dorms are under construction. Most students of FGCU are expected to commute from homes in the area. Enrollment predictions anticipate that 8,000 students will attend FGCU by 2003.

High-tech and distance learning are a major component of FGCU's method and mission. Although some classes are held on campus, many are offered via computer-based learning programs, the Internet and television. These high-tech teaching tools allow students to learn at their own pace and reduce expenses for overhead.

Because of the administration's environmental sensitivity and the school's location on the edge of the Everglades, FGCU is poised to become a leader in environmental education and ecological studies of all types. In fact, students must participate in an environmental colloquium prior to graduation from the university. You can learn more about the newest member of Florida's 10-school university system by visiting its Web site at http://www.fgcu.edu.

A satellite campus of Minneapolis-based Walden University is located just outside the north entrance to Pelican Landing, in the new Walden Center on Route 41 in Bonita Springs. Walden specializes in graduate-level education; some courses are offered jointly with FGCU. Fort Lauderdale's Nova University also offers classes in Bonita Springs from its satellite campus at Pine Haven Plaza on Bonita Beach Road.

In nearby Fort Myers, about 14,000 credit and 16,000 non-credit students attend Edison Community College each year. The college is a state-supported, two-year coed school. Also in Fort Myers are a branch of Barry University, which is a satellite campus of Catholic University in Miami Shores, and Southwest Florida College of Business, an independent two-year school that enrolls more than 200. South of Bonita Springs, International College in Naples enrolls about 500 students at its Gulf Gate Plaza location on Tamiami Trail East.

Getting Around

Interstate Highway 75 traverses the county in a north/south direction; in Collier County to the south, it turns east and is dubbed the Everglades Parkway, a.k.a. Alligator Alley. U.S. Highway 41 (a.k.a. Tamiami Trail) is the other main north/south road. It runs from Tampa to Miami, roughly paralleling I-75, although it is the older of the two highways and is both farther west--closer to the ocean--and farther south than I-75.

Transportation by water is not unusual; in fact, it's a given in certain circles, although primarily for recreational rather than practical purposes. Cruising the Imperial River offers delightful views of mangroves, ospreys and even eagles. The yacht basin in Fort Myers is a beautiful sight. Cape Coral boasts far more canals than Venice, and it's said that many residents are "boatniks." And the Okeechobee Waterway cuts coast to coast across Florida via rivers and Lake Okeechobee. The Port of Boca Grande at the northwest segment of the county provides docking facilities, but not warehousing or stevedoring. Eighty-five miles north, commercial shippers utilize the Port of Tampa, which offers full-service docking facilities.

Seminole Gulf Railroad delivers freight to the area. Lee County Transit (LeeTran) buses drive regular routes around the county. Trolley shuttles are popular, too, particularly in beach areas. Page Field serves general aviation; Southwest Florida International Airport offers jet service and connections to areas all over the world from its facility southeast of the city.

Great Outdoors

It's truly a water wonderland. The residents know it, love it, use it. After all, that's why most of them--or their ancestors--came here in the first place.

Bonita Springs is only minutes away from the National Audubon Society's 11,000-acre Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the northern border of the Big Cypress Swamp. Native flowering plants and trees, red and black mangroves with their distinctive "legs" and alligators are found here. So are burrowing owls and gentle manatees, a.k.a. sea cows. Bonita Springs is also home to Everglades Wonder Gardens, a refuge for exotic birds and animals, including Big Joe, a 1,000-pound American crocodile. Living close to the massive ecosystem called the Everglades, a River of Grass with 600 species of birds and animals and 1,000 plant varieties, the residents of this region value their natural environment.

Also in Bonita Springs, the Koreshan State Historic Site memorializes an eccentric religious sect that considered the earth a hollow globe with people residing inside it. Founded in 1869 by Cyrus Teed, a New York physician who adopted the biblical name Koresh, the Koreshan sect's believers followed Dr. Teed first to Chicago and later to Estero, Fla., where he planned to establish a "New Jerusalem." Although Teed told his followers that he was immortal, he died in 1908. The sect dwindled in size after its leader's demise. A handful of surviving believers donated the group's remaining property to the state in 1961. A nature trail, the Estero River, a boat ramp, a picnic area and campground add to the site's contemporary appeal. Its heritage and history are safe, too, because it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and preserved as the Koreshan Unity Settlement Historic District. Every April the city hosts the Koreshan Unity Lunar Festival.

Fort Myers, the county seat, occupies the central section of Lee County. Although its population is only about half that of Cape Coral, Fort Myers dominates the center and gives its venerable name to the area. Located on the wide and wandering Caloosahatchee River, the city features a sizable downtown marina in an area blessed by rivers, bays, harbors, canals, lakes and beaches.

Lovers Key State Recreation Area is a three-island, 400-plus-acre preserve and recreational area offers good spots for fishing, canoeing, shelling, hiking, swimming, birding or just watching the many species of birds and waterfowl. For checking out Florida flora around Bonita Springs or enjoying a little leisurely bird watching, consider a cruise of the Imperial River with friends or with Capt. Wallace Sunderland. His 1 1/2 hour journey on the Bay Queen will take you back to old Florida.

Almost half of Sanibel Island is preserved as the J.N. "Ding" Darling Nature Preserve, said to protect nearly 300 species of birds as well as numerous amphibians, reptiles and mammals. The county's beaches and bays attract naturalists, especially Sanibel's, which captures shells and other treasures from the sea in such abundance because of its unusual east/west orientation. Speaking of sea treasures, twin island Captiva delivers its share. A Gift From the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh's famous little book, was written here. Pine Island, just north of Sanibel/Captiva, may be about as close to old Florida as it's possible to get these days.

Children enjoy the out of doors as much as their elders. But for a special treat, area youngsters delight in the Children's Science Center, with its mazes, holographs, optical illusions and other hands-on fun and the huge waterslide and play pools at the Sun Splash Family Waterpark, both in Cape Coral. For all ages, you can't beat a family outing to the Edison/Ford Winter Estates at 2350 McGregor Boulevard in old Fort Myers. From 1886 until 1931, the prolific inventor Thomas Edison spent his winters here. The home, laboratory, lovely grounds and a museum holding many of the results of his genius are open to the public, as are the adjoining home, grounds and classic cars of his friend and admirer Henry Ford, another American giant.

Good Sports

If your favorite sport is done on or in the water, Lee County will please you, whether you enjoy swimming, boating, fishing, jetskiing, snorkeling, diving, waterskiing or parasailing. Fishing is big here. Some consider Boca Grande Pass the Tarpon Fishing Capital of the World. Others prefer fishing the freshwater Caloosahatchee River.

Southwest Floridians love golf. Some even claim it's the world capital of golf. The region is home to 95 golf courses, about a third of which are in Lee County, so golfers of all skill levels have many courses to choose from. For family fun, locals adore Lakes Park, south of Fort Myers, with its canoes and paddle boats and picnic facilities, and downtown's pride and joy, Centennial Park.

For big-league sports, residents travel to Tampa, Orlando and Miami--unless the sport is baseball. The Boston Red Sox train in downtown Fort Myers at City of Palms Park, and the Minnesota Twins train at Lee County Sports Complex, so Fort Myers is a major stop on the Grapefruit League circuit. A minor league club owned by the Twins, the Fort Myers Miracle, plays at the Sports Complex during the summer season.

Area hockey fans are excited about the Florida Everblades, a minor league club that debuted in the 1998-99 season as part of the American Hockey League. With home games scheduled in TECO Arena, a sparkling new state-of-the-art hockey complex, the sport quickly became a local favorite. The arena is located on Corkscrew Road in southern Lee County.

Hot Times in the City

Excursion trains between Bonita Springs and Caloosahatchee Bridge run three days a week--Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday--year-round. Trains may also run other weekdays during some seasons of the year. You can board the train in Bonita Springs and get off in downtown Fort Myers at the Imaginarium. The double-treat combination of train trip and Imaginarium is popular with families, especially youngsters. A hands-on museum and aquarium with numerous lively exhibits on educational topics like physics, weather and the environment, the Imaginarium is both community asset and attraction.

Other delightful opportunities, among them Bonita Beach, a local favorite, and the fabulous Naples Pier in neighboring Collier County, await water-loving residents and visitors.

For a cultural evening out, many residents enjoy the Naples Philharmonic, with Erich Kunsel as the principal pops conductor and Christopher Seaman as music director. Their home concert hall is the $43.5 million Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts, which is also southwest Florida's venue for occasional performances by the Miami City Ballet.

Shop 'til You Drop

Shoppers can select from a diverse array of goods from a preserved sand dollar or shell to an elaborate, custom-designed, handcrafted piece of jewelry. Shopping areas are conveniently located near every community. They contain all the basic shops, such as grocery, pharmacy, dry cleaners and so forth, plus all the major discount stores. Specialty shops abound. Whether you desire custom-fitted sports equipment or hand-engraved invitations for your next party, a "must have" or a sudden whim, you won't need to travel far.

For delightful shopping excursions, visit the Shops of Waterside in nearby Naples and The Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers. Both upscale locations are anchored by the same fine department stores--Saks Fifth Avenue and Jacobson's-- and both offer distinctive small shops and boutiques.

Nightlife

After a hard day on land or sea, a necessary ingredient of a night out on the town is a view of the spectacular sunset from one of the pristine beach areas along Bonita Springs' miles of shoreline. This treat could be preceded with one of the areas many "Happy Hours," which frequently begin well before the word evening is even mentioned. Some establishments offer an array of hors d'oeuvres, live musical entertainment, dancing and socializing--all under one "chickee hut"--along with their liquid refreshments.

If dinner is on the agenda, you're in luck. Bonita Springs restaurants know how to please. Fresh seafood is always a treat--and especially popular with visitors--but menus based on the cuisines of India, Greece, France, Germany and Italy are also available. As evening wears on, you'll usually find ongoing cultural events like live theater or musical performances to choose from. And what could be a better way to end your evening out that a peaceful stroll along the beach or a leisurely walk through downtown's newly renovated park. Or if you yearn for the sporting life, you'll be glad to know that a three-month winter season brings activity at the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track near Interstate 75.

Just for Seniors

Some of the area's seniors reside in the region for six or fewer months per year. Many others live here year-round. Both groups volunteer and are active in charities and church groups. In March, area businesses present the Seniors Festival--a two-day exposition sparked by competitive games and a concert.

When seniors need assistance, information and referral services are a phone call away. The Senior Helpline, called Age Link, is 941/433-3900. Information specialists will refer citizens over 60 to a broad range of services including personal care, homemaker services, adult day care, respite care, medical transportation and home-delivered meals. Some service providers will charge a fee; other services are free from state or federal sources but are in demand and may require a waiting period; yet other services are free to the needy but fee-based for everyone else.

At least eight senior centers are scattered around the county: Cape Coral (2); Bonita Springs (1); Fort Myers (2), North Fort Myers (1); Lehigh Acres (1); and Sanibel (1). Most offer recreational activities and congregate meals.