John R. Wood Agents Close on Nearly $25 Million Sale

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John R. Wood Agents Close on Nearly $25 Million Sale

NAPLES, FL–Two local real estate agents recently experienced the highest, and perhaps fastest, sale of their careers. Bruce Babcock and Merry Coolidge of John R. Wood, Inc. Realtors sold a beachfront compound off Gordon Drive in Port Royal for $24.8 million in July, just a week after securing the listing.

Hard to believe, but this isn’t the highest-priced sale to occur in Southwest Florida. In April 2001, two other John R. Wood agents, Pat and Frank Candito, sold another Gordon Drive beachfront estate compound for $30 million.

According to Coolidge, the recent sale included a beachfront mansion with bayfront properties across the road, comprising a rare compound. The beachfront estate includes 7,000 square feet with four bedrooms, four and a half baths and a three-car garage with 150 feet of beachfront. The two lots across Gordon Drive overlook the bay and feature a four-bedroom guesthouse and additional carriage house with caretaker’s quarters located above the three-car garage, and adjacent manicured lot with boat dock. 

The Wood firm is not new to handling record-breaking sales. In 1996, Coolidge brokered the sale of the same residence at a record-breaking $7.9 million. Shortly thereafter, she sold the bayfront properties to the owner for renovation as additional guest quarters. This property was also listed by the Wood firm at the time.

“That $7.9 million sale held the record for about three years, and once it was broken sales started going up fast,” said Coolidge, who has been selling Naples real estate for 20 years.

Coolidge and Babcock, who has 24 years' selling experience in Naples, work on a partnership basis in the Port Royal area.

According to Phil Wood, President and CEO of Wood Realtors, from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system that covers the region of Naples through Ft. Myers, there have been 30 improved property residential transactions that have closed in 2005 at a price of $5 to $10 million. Wood reports there are another nine sales in that price range that are pending, but not yet closed. In the over $10 million category, there have been seven MLS closings in 2005. The recent Wood closing is the only one this year above $20 million, although the Haldeman property in Old Naples is expected to close soon, which was marketed at a list price of $22 million.

“The estate market in Southwest Florida is extremely healthy,” reports John R. Wood COO Dottie Babcock. “Almost any area of the U.S. would be delighted to have seven sales or closings in the over $10 million price category, so we are indeed fortunate to have such a great real estate market.”

The purchaser of the property is confidential, but they have placed their newly renovated Port Royal home, which sits on 1.75 acres on Morgan’s Cove on the market at a price of $13.9 million, with John R. Wood agent Marni Chur. Chur said that the purchasers' plan to move to their new beachfront home in the near future and are looking forward to the views and lifestyle they will enjoy in the new residence.