Earlier this year, crews drove thirty pilings into the sand on the beach side of the 700 block of Estero Boulevard, laying the foundation for a home that does not exist yet. The walls will be poured concrete. The roof will be poured concrete. A Royal Corinthian Homes crew is building it that way on purpose, and the home is not expected to be ready for occupancy until early 2027. As of this spring, two doors down, a pair of vacant lots were still waiting for their own version of new. One was priced at $999,000. The other, at 716 Estero, was listed at $1.075 million.
Seven miles south, at the quiet tip of the island, sits a different kind of new. As of this spring, Gulfside Twelve had five full-floor residences left, priced from $4.4 million to $5.3 million for the penthouse. Same three words describe both projects: new construction. Same storm cleared the ground for both of them. The buyers writing offers on each one are not shopping for the same thing, and treating "new construction on Fort Myers Beach" as a single category is the fastest way to misjudge budget, timeline, and what you are actually buying.
The Same Storm, Two Different Answers
The fork starts with a federal rule most buyers never hear about until they are already under contract on a lot. If the cost to repair a storm-damaged structure equals or exceeds half of what that structure was worth before the damage, the entire building has to come up to current flood code, including elevation to base flood elevation. The Town of Fort Myers Beach spells this out plainly: a home that crosses that fifty percent line stops being a renovation and becomes new construction in the eyes of the code, whether the owner wanted a full rebuild or not.
For a low-set cottage that took several feet of storm surge, that math rarely comes out under fifty percent. Which means a huge share of what looks like a personal choice to rebuild from scratch was actually decided by an engineer's damage estimate months after the storm. What varies is what happens next, and that depends almost entirely on who owns the ground.
What a Family Lot Rebuild Actually Looks Like
The homes going up on the 700 block replaced a cluster of cottages that had belonged to the same families for twenty to thirty years before Hurricane Ian took them. Six homes are now under construction there, including two modulars built by Idyll Construction and the all-concrete house at 718 Estero, where Royal Corinthian Homes president Jonathan Walters and project manager David Hendrix are overseeing a build that will stand nearly twenty feet above grade once it is finished. New hurricane codes require these rebuilds to sit at least a foot above base flood elevation, which is part of why the concrete house needed thirty pilings before a single wall could go up.
As of this spring, two lots in that same cluster remained on the market, and the buyer interest chasing them was not entirely local. Demand has been coming from Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, and Boca Raton, along with a growing number of buyers from New Jersey and New York.
"They are excited because they like brand new. They can build it the way they want it."
That is how Alex King Group's Marc Taglieri describes the appeal to out-of-state buyers weighing a vacant lot against an existing home. A lot means a blank slate and a builder relationship, not a renovation someone else already started.
The Other End of the Island
Gulfside Twelve sits on the site of the old Carousel Inn, a 1960s motel that families and snowbirds used to book by the month before it was destroyed in the storm. Dublin Real Estate Investment Group, led by CEO Tim O'Neill, bought the property in 2022 for $7 million and built twelve full-floor residences across two buildings instead of a motel. Phase one sold out completely. As of this spring, phase two had five residences left, each around 4,000 square feet with four bedrooms, a flex room, a private elevator, and access to 180 feet of private beachfront.
The buyers here are not necessarily choosing between a lot and a house. Alex King has described the interest as coming from families with five or six grandchildren who want everyone under one roof for a seasonal visit rather than splitting into separate rentals. That changes what the square footage is for. A 700 block rebuild is sized for a household. A Gulfside Twelve unit is sized for a reunion.
The rental math is also different by design. Owners at Gulfside Twelve can rent their units as vacation rentals only three times a year, a sharp contrast to the weekly-rental zones that cover much of the rest of the island. As part of the project's approval, the development also gave the community a public beach access easement along its north side. Details on the remaining floor plans are on the project's own site.
Why the Gap Is Not Just Land Value
| 700 Block Rebuild | Gulfside Twelve | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $999,000 to $1.075M for a vacant lot | $4.4M to $5.3M for a finished residence |
| Construction | Concrete or modular, single-family | Full-floor concrete condominium |
| Builder | Royal Corinthian Homes, Idyll Construction | Dublin Real Estate Investment Group |
| Typical buyer | Family or out-of-state individual buyer | Multigenerational family, second-home buyer |
| Rental rule | Governed by island's weekly-rental zones | Limited to three rentals per year |
| Status (as of spring 2026) | Under construction, occupancy expected early 2027 | Phase 1 sold out, five Phase 2 units remained |
A wider lot price does not fully explain a gap this large. Land assembly costs money, but so does the engineering that even a modest rebuild now requires. The town's own elevation grant program shows how real that cost is at every price point. As of a May 2026 council update, twenty five homeowners had been approved for FEMA-backed grants requiring their homes to be raised at least two feet above base flood elevation, with the federal government covering up to seventy five percent of the project cost and the homeowner covering the rest. Even a family rebuilding a modest cottage lot is paying an elevation premium. A developer assembling a beachfront parcel for twelve luxury units is paying that same premium at a much larger scale, on top of land, design, and finish costs a single-family rebuild never touches.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Write an Offer
- Is the price for a buildable lot, a locked-in build package, or a finished home?
- If it is a lot, has an elevation certificate already been pulled, or is that still ahead of you?
- What are the actual rental rules for this specific building or block, not the island in general?
- Who is the builder, and what is their realistic completion timeline given current permitting?
- Are you buying into a family-scale rebuild or a developer-assembled project, and does that match what you actually want to own?
A Few Questions Locals and Buyers Keep Asking
Are the vacant lots on the 700 block still available? As of this spring, two remained: 716 Estero Boulevard at $1.075 million and 700 Estero Boulevard at $999,000. Lot counts move quickly on the island, so confirm current status before you plan around either one.
How many units are left at Gulfside Twelve? As of this spring, five remained, all in Phase 2, ranging from $4.4 million up to $5.3 million for the remaining penthouse.
Can I run a Gulfside Twelve unit as a typical Fort Myers Beach vacation rental? No. Ownership there caps rentals at three times a year, which is a different rule than the weekly-rental zones found elsewhere on the island.
New construction on Fort Myers Beach is not one market right now. It is two, running side by side on the same storm-cleared ground, priced for two different lives. Knowing which one you are actually shopping for is the difference between a smart offer and a surprised one.
If you are trying to figure out which side of that fork fits your budget, your family, and your timeline, Alex King Group has agents working both ends of the island right now. Work With Alex to sort out which "new construction" is actually yours to buy.
