Sanibel’s Pink Birds – Roseate Spoonbills at Play

 

Summer Programs at J.N. “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge

From June 27 though August 13, the refuge is featuring FREE programs designed especially for families. With support from the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society Friends of the Refuge, five programs (including three new ones) are being offered with no pre-registration needed. They include:

·       Indigo Trail Hike – Wednesdays at 10 a.m. (1-hour naturalist tour beginning at Education Center)

·       Refuge Caravan Tour – Saturdays at 9 a.m. (90-minute car tour beginning at Education Center)

·       Birds of the Refuge – Fridays at 1 p.m. (30-minute program at Education Center lab)

·       Family Beach Walk – Thursdays at 9 a.m. (1-hour walk beginning at Gulfside Park)

·       Reading at the Refuge – Mondays & Fridays at 11 a.m. (in the Education Center lab).

New Resort Housing Rules

This week, Sanibel City Council unanimously approved a Land Development Code Ordinance which amends the land use plan with the intent of encouraging owners to update and redevelop aging island hotels, motels, and other short-term accommodations. Many City rules have changed since the older resorts were built, making them non-conforming in density, coverage, height, and setback. Unless the City code changed, resort owners were unable to modernize without losing units. To keep the island economy healthy, the City wants to retain as many short-term units as possible, so these code revisions call for no density loss if properties remain short-term rentals (and are not converted to condominiums).

Santiva’s Next Chance

Local restaurateur, Matt Asen, part-owner of race horse, Santiva (named for the old mail boat to the island), has another opportunity for a win tomorrow at the Belmont Stakes in his home state of New York. The Belmont is the final leg of the Triple Crown. Santiva skipped the second race, the Preakness, after running in the Kentucky Derby (coming in 6th) and may have a better chance at the Belmont since it is the longest of the Triple Crown races. Matt says, his horse “is a good finisher”. If you watch the race, keep an eye out for Matt, he usually manages to get in front of a TV camera.

Island Activity

Though now into June, with the typically-slow month of May behind us, we did not really see any increased traffic this week. Lee County schools are out today, so perhaps that will change.

Algae in The River

Hopefully vacationers’ plans will not be deterred by recent news reports of algae blooms in the Caloosahatchee River that are heading this way. Actually, on Monday, a large bloom was reported on an east-end Sanibel canal. These blooms are caused by unhealthy levels of phosphorus and nitrogen that enter the water from fertilizer, pastures, septic, and storm-water runoff. They thrive in stagnant waters with sunlight and high nutrient levels. Policy decisions by the South Florida Water Management District, for the past 13 weeks, have cut off the water supply into the river from Lake Okeechobee, causing the river to stagnate. We have had no significant rain for several weeks, which probably has contributed to the problem. Forecaster says that we should get some much needed rain over the weekend, so hopefully that will nip this problem locally before it spreads further.

Sales Action

On the real estate front, our local Association of Realtors® had a caravan meeting yesterday after a 2-week reprieve. Announcements were once again mainly price reductions, plus a few new listings. Not many new sales were reported. There also was entirely too much talk about island short sales and foreclosures. We don’t like to hear about those here.

Sanibel & Captiva MLS Activity June 3 – 10

 
Sanibel
CONDOS
3 new listings: Duggers Tropical Cottages #5 1/1 $219.9K (short sale), Sundial #I101 1/1 $399K (our listing), Surfside 12 #B4 3/2 $950K.
1 price change: Sundial #Q301 2/2 now $599K.
1 new sale: Atrium #306 3/2 listed for $1.449M.
5 closed sales: Pointe Santo #D42 2/2 $575K, Sandpiper Beach #401 2/2 $610K, Villas of Sanibel #A301 3/3 $1.075M, Janthina #2A 3/2 $1.087.5M, Janthina #2B 3/2 $1.087.5M.

HOMES
1 new listing: 3960 West Gulf Dr 3/2 $679.9K.
7 price changes: 490 Elizabeth Rd 2/2 now $423.5K, 480 Peachtree Rd 3/3 now $595K, 1234 Seagrape 2/2 now $679K, 6188 Henderson 3/2 now $699K, 1316 Eagle Run Dr 4/3 now $899K, 1360 Eagle Run Dr 5/3.5 now $1.079M (short sale), 970 East Gulf Dr 3/4.5 now $1.195M.
4 new sales: 976 Greenwood Ct S 3/2.5 half-duplex listed for $359K, 1210 Par View Dr 3/2 listed for $659K, 600 N.Yachtsman Dr 3/2.5 listed for $939K (short sale), 722 Sand Dollar Dr 3/3 listed for $1.295M.
2 closed sales: 1613 Sand Castle Rd 3/3 half-duplex $345K, 1212 Isabel Dr 3/3 $1.75M.

 
LOTS
No new listings.
3 price changes: 555 Piedmont Rd now $149K (our listing), 2285 Wulfert Rd now $149K, 133 Butterknife Pl now $349.9K.
No new or closed sales.
 
Captiva
CONDOS
1 new listing: Marina Villas #602 2/2 $569K.
2 price changes: Beach Homes #15 4/3 now $2.049M, Captiva Bay Villas #D 3/3.5 now $2.995M.
No new sales.
2 closed sales: Bayside Villas #4216 1/2 $273.6K, Beach Homes #27 4/3 $1.975M.

HOMES
No new listings.
2 price changes: 11521 Wightman Ln 4/3 now $1.595M, 15158 Wiles Dr 5/4 now $2.595M (short sale).
2 new sales: 16585 Captiva Dr 5/4/2 listed for $2.2M (short sale), 11524 Andy Rosse Ln 4/4.5 listed for $2.395M (foreclosure).
No closed sales.

LOTS
Nothing to report.
 

This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors or its Multiple Listing Service.  Neither the association nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy.  Data maintained by the association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.  The information provided represents the general real estate activity in the community and does not imply that SanibelSusan Realty Associates is participating or participated in these transactions.  If your property currently is listed with another broker, this is not intended as a solicitation of that listing.