By Naples Daily News staff report

BONITA SPRINGS — A joint meeting of Bonita Springs City Council and the city’s planning and zoning advisory boards set directives for city planning initiatives in a joint workshop Monday morning.

It was meant to jump-start proposals for downtown revitalization that have been stalled for months, if not years.

“Our goal here is to try to build a foundation,” said Mayor Ben Nelson reminding council members to focus on broad concepts. “We just need to specifically have a good start … that we can build upon in the future.”

City Manager Gary Price said there has been “too much time, talk, confusion and fragmentation in this discussion” and recommended that the workshop be used to solidify a philosophy rather than drill down into details.

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By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News

BCB Homes Inc. is suing Bonita Bay Group, saying it has been hurt by the developer’s failure to properly market and operate Mediterra.

The lawsuit, filed in Collier County Circuit Court last week, seeks damages and BCB wants out of contracts it signed to become a preferred builder in Mediterra, a master-planned golf community that straddles the Lee/Collier county lines off Livingston Road.

Timothy Weidle, BCB’s chief operating officer, declined to comment. His company, based in Naples, is one of several high-end homebuilders in Mediterra.

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By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News

Fort Myers area Realtors sold more homes in the first eight months of this year than they did in all of 2005.

Members of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Inc. sold 13.6 percent more homes from January to August than they did in the height of the market four years ago.

In 2005, a total of 9,842 homes sold. This year, through August, Realtors in the Fort Myers area sold 11,178 single-family homes, according to a report by the Fort Myers Realtor association.

Sales were up 80.7 percent in August, compared to the same month a year ago. Year to date, sales are up 124.9 percent, compared to the same months a year ago.

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Contributed by Tani Hurley Public Relations   Naples News

ESTERO — As the new Estero Parkway extension nears completion, residents in neighborhoods along the Parkway will find themselves minutes away from entertainment, education and shopping — all without the hassle of crossing Interstate 75.

“The new extension of Estero Parkway provides an overpass that links the road from Three Oaks Parkway to Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, allowing easy access to Germain Arena, Florida Gulf Coast University and Gulf Coast Town Center,” said Ken Thirtyacre, president of Toll Brothers’ Florida West Division.

Two Toll Brothers communities, Belle Lago and The Reserve at Estero, are on Estero Parkway.

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By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News

Summer has been hot for Naples Realtors.

August brought another busy month, with home and condo resales up nearly 40 percent.

A monthly report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors shows 545 total sales in August, up from 395 in the same month a year ago.

The report tracks Realtor sales made through the SunshineMLS, or multiple listing service, in Collier County, excluding Marco Island.

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By LAURA LAYDEN  Naples News

Members are calling off an agreement to buy the Shadow Wood and Commons clubs from the Bonita Bay Group for $8.3 million.

New demands from the developer have killed the deal, said David English, president of the Shadow Wood Country Club in Estero. On Sept. 8, Tim Boates, Bonita Bay Group’s restructuring officer, met with members to discuss the liability of deposits for resigned members.

The developer abruptly stopped honoring its 30-day policy to refund deposits to resigning members late last year. Based on that policy about $4 million is owed to members of both clubs who have either resigned or downgraded their memberships.

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By LUKE MULLINS US News

As the housing market shows signs of stabilization, home buyers are seeing their leverage over sellers dissipate, according to a new report from Zillow, a real estate information service. The report found that, nationally, buyers paid an average of 3.3 percent—or about $7,000—less than final listing prices in July, which is a substantially smaller bargain than the 4.6 percent—or $10,260—discounts they landed in January. “The strong summer selling season in 2009 has led to a decreasing difference between the last listing price and final sale price,” Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, said in a news release issued Wednesday. (more…)

By ELIZABETH KELLAR Naples News

NAPLES — Some things don’t change. For example, many men don’t like to go shopping.  “As far as we can tell, men haven’t shopped for 4,000 years,” joked Robert J. Gibbs, president of Gibbs Planning Group, during a Thursday morning presentation to Fifth Avenue South about 50 business owners.

But some things do change, and one of them might be the look and feel of Naples’ celebrated main street.  Fifth Avenue South property owners hired Gibbs’ group to conduct a study about how to energize their area, which is struggling in the sluggish economy and in the face of increased local competition. The study results are expected to be released in late September.

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By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News

NAPLES — It was a bang up month for single-family home resales in Lee County in July.

Sales once again rose by more than 100 percent last month.

There were 1,570 sales, up from 768 in the same month a year ago, according to a report by the Florida Association of Realtors.

“This is not a new phenomenon. We have been over 100 percent for many months in a row,” said Brett Ellis, a Realtor with the Ellis Team RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers.

Monthly numbers for Naples and Marco Island aren’t included in the statewide report.

Of all the metro areas tracked in the report, Fort Myers-Cape Coral saw the biggest percentage increase in singlefamily resales. But it also had the largest drop in home prices.

The median home price fell 43 percent to $89,000, down from $154,900 a year ago.

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By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News

Foreclosure activity slowed in Lee County in August.  In Collier County, it increased a bit.

A report by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac shows 4,133 foreclosure related filings — or one for every 88 households _ last month in Lee. That was down more than 26 percent from July.

In Collier, there were 1,137 filings, or one for every 169 households. That was up 3.08 percent from July.

The report tracks default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. Default notices are new filings. There were 791 of them in Collier last month and 1,799 in Lee last month, according to RealtyTrac.

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