The North Star Yacht Club focuses on luxury
_BY EVAN _WILLIAMS Florida Weekly Correspondent

COURTESY PHOTO An aerial view of the North Star Yacht Club. The project sits on a 12-acre property in North Fort Myers and contains 184 units starting at $585,000.

Residents of the $100 million North Star Yacht Club development started moving in last Friday morning, as painters put the final touches on the 15,000- square-foot clubhouse and engineers tweaked those high speed elevators which silently rise to the 13th floor penthouses.

The "gulls wing" design of North Star's two beige and cream-colored buildings near the corner of Hancock Bridge Parkway and US 41 in North Fort Myers are inescapable to passersby.

"We're the biggest thing over in North Fort Myers," vice president of project development J. Kemp Demming said. "You can't miss it."

Demming has also overseen developments like the Peace River Preserve in Punta Gorda, the Colonnade on 5th Avenue in Naples, and the enormous 330-unit Gulf Harbor in Hudson, Fla.

North Star sits on a 12-acre property and contains 184 units starting at $585,000. The windows of all face South, which means they and the pool, two gardens, two tennis courts, a volleyball court, a putting green, a marina and even a one-acre beach, are in the sun all winter.

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO The North Star Yacht Club's marina offers quick, easy access to the Caloosahatchee River.

"The most important part of this project is that the owners wanted to have all of the units facing the river," said Rick McCormack, CEO of the Fort Myersbased architectural firm RJ McCormack which designed North Star. "So we created these buildings in a shape that, number one, all the units face the river; and it created this beautiful pool plaza, recreation area in the back towards the river marina, that has come out beautifully."

Once RJ McCormack finalized a design, sales began and 70 percent of the condos sold out before the project began.

"As soon as we get enough sales, we start building," Demming said. "… Our prices are below or comparable to everybody else. And when they see what I have to offer, they're buying from us. Last weekend over 250 people came through."

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO J. Kemp Demming, North Star's VP of development

The key was attention to detail, said Todd Gates, the project manager for general contractor BBL Construction Services. He pointed up at the side of the building: "Stone, stucco, canvas, aluminum, and glass, all in one place…just look at the stone detail."

"I think BBL did an unbelievable job," Demming said. "I would consider them the best high rise contractor in Florida."

Some of the details in the clubhouse include: a small theatre (two rows of leather seats have yet to be installed), a Key West style bar and kitchen, a business center, a billiards room, a card room with a dry bar and plasma screen TVs, a fitness center with a yoga room, a kid's arcade and cabanas complete with microwaves by the pool.

Individual units all contain luxury, resort style amenities, like under cabinet lighting, granite countertops, oversized showers and bathtubs. Seventh floor units are spacious, well lit and luxurious. Half the penthouse units are sold out; the largest being a 3,600- square foot pad with three separate balconies. Almost floor to ceiling windows provide panoramic views of the Caloosahatchee River, the 41 Bridge, and South Fort Myers.

"You should see what the bridge looks like at night," Demming said. "…We feel like we've built the best project south of Sarasota. Nobody has what we have."