Marco Island sees record lot sale of $11 million

A rare sliver of land on the southernmost tip of Marco Island has fetched a record price.

The oversized single-family lot – in the Estates area – sold for an eye-popping $11 million, within weeks of hitting the market.

"It's amazing," said Jim Prange, the listing agent with Premier Sotheby's International Realty.

Amazing, he said, because it's only the second time a vacant residential lot has sold for more than $6 million on the island.

The new record topped the old record – set last year – by $251,000.

Asked what made the now most-expensive lot to ever sell on the island so valuable, Prange said it's larger-than-usual beach frontage and spectacular waterfront views.

"You're looking out over the Ten Thousand Islands. It sits right on Caxambas Pass," he said.

The 0.79-acre homesite, located at 1071 South Barfield Drive, sits in a cul-de-sac. It's south facing, with 265 feet of frontage on the water, and a new seawall, boat dock and lift.

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"It offers views of the sunrise and sunset. There's a place to put your boat and still have a view too," Prange said.

The more typical half-acre lot in the Estates neighborhood offers 125 feet of frontage on the water, he said, and a 60 foot yacht sitting out back can block most of the view.

Citing the seller's desire for privacy, Prange did not disclose the name of his client, saying only that he'd planned to build a custom home on the lot, then changed his mind.

"It was all graded out and ready to start a home and he lost interest. He's more of a woodsy type guy," so he's decided to build elsewhere, in the mountains, Prange said.

County records show the previous owner as the Hoppner Florida Land Trust.

Ian Clausen, a broker-associate and Realtor with Clausen Properties on Marco, represented the buyer. He declined to comment on the sale, out of respect for his client's privacy.

While the previous owner had house plans drawn up for the property, Prange said he doesn't think the new owners would use them, preferring to custom design their own dream home.

"It was a different kind of design, more contemporary, more modern," he said. "The more he (the seller) got to looking at it, it wasn't him."

The lot hit the multiple listing service, or MLS, on Feb. 13, priced at $12 million. It brought offers the same day, Prange said, and the sale closed 15 days later for $1 million less.

The seller purchased the property for a little over $4 million in 2019. Then it included a house built in the 1970s, which he tore down.

The previous record lot sale on Marco also involved a rare piece of waterfront real estate: A cobbled-together 4.32-acre plot, which brought $10.749 million.

Technically, that sale involved two parcels, with the given address of 1771 Osceola Court. The land offered 605 feet of direct frontage on the water, overlooking Caxambas Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, also in the Estates area, at the southeast corner of the island.

Prange represented the buyer of that land, along with his daughter Nikki Prange-Carroll, specialists on Marco real estate for Premier. The property is the site of a former fish camp, owned by the Petitt family. At one time, the state eyed it for preservation as a historical site, but it didn't happen after the historical buildings got destroyed.

In recent years, the island has also seen some mind-blowing home sales.

Last year, a contemporary mansion in Hideaway fetched $11.875, beating the island's previous record home sale of $10.5 million, set in 2020.

The affluent, gated community of Hideaway includes a private nine-hole executive golf course and clubhouse, with two miles of beach sitting directly on the Gulf of Mexico.

Historically, Prange said Marco's real estate has been undervalued, and it's still a bargain to some, despite price increases in recent years.

"We are seeing some record prices and those record prices are still less than what you pay in some of our neighboring communities, like Naples, Bonita," he said.