Osprey Bay. May 2024. Manufactured home being installed with hurricane and flood resistant features.
Paul Goldfinger, editor, Blogfinger.net
Hurricane Ian took out most of this 470 unit upscale trailer park on September 28, 2022 in the Iona area of Ft. Myers. Fla.
Almost every unit had to be demolished including our yellow happy house. Ft. Myers Beach looked as if a large bomb exploded. Most of the area is still under construction.
The owners of the over-55 property now called “Osprey Bay” came up with an ambitious plan to reinvent the park as a manufactured home community where almost everyone who would move in would be buying a new home. Model homes are now present
About 6 companies began to construct manufactured homes according to a grand design plan. There are quite a few models, but the size of the lots are nearly identical. The homes all have anti-hurricane and anti-flood HUD inspired features.
Evidently Osprey Bay did well during the last two hurricanes—just some expected street flooding.
Each home includes appliances, and there are many extras including clubhouse, pickle ball, shuffle board, swimming pools, etc. Click on the link below for much more info.
The company Cobblestone owns the land while the residents own their homes. There will be many amenities, and the cost is lower than most new homes in Fla except perhaps trailers, but that lifestyle is probably on the way out.
Prices begin at $180,000 and there are many selections priced according to features.
The home owners fees are $1,400 per month, but that includes many items including mowing, sewage, Wi-Fi, and other life-style extras.
Now there are concerns on-line about Florida’s economy and real estate fluctuations due to a variety of reasons, but buyers are still coming to place deposits in Osprey Bay, and the prices are actually going up whereas most prices in Fla are dropping.
The homes are trucked to the site, and then independent contractors do the installation.
Now there are 50 occupied homes in the park with another about 50 under contract.
Eileen and I are building on the same lot as our destroyed home. Photos from La La Land will resume when we resume.
There are ongoing concerns about cost of home-owners and flood insurance.
Osprey Bay new home. From the OB website.
Here is the link to Osprey Bay’s web site for more information.
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