Commodore Club

Commodore Club is two mid-rise condominium buildings at 222 Harbour Drive in The Moorings, Naples, standing on the street's south side with Moorings Bay directly in front. One went up in 1970 and the other in 1973, and each is its own condominium. Every home is an individually titled apartment, and the homes look out over the bay.

The question that matters most here is the boat: both buildings have slips, but buying a home doesn't in itself get you one. If you're buying with a boat in mind, settle the slip as a separate deal before committing to the apartment.

What are the homes like at Commodore Club?

Two or three bedrooms, from about 1,350 to about 2,050 square feet. In the 1970 building, expect two-bedroom apartments of a little over 1,400 square feet. The 1973 building is where the larger plans are: three-bedroom homes of about 2,000 square feet, alongside smaller two-bedrooms. In both buildings, homes go at least as high as the fourth floor.

Most homes have laundry inside the apartment, and every home comes with one carport space, so the car stays covered. A second space isn't a given, so anyone with two cars should confirm it before going further.

Does a boat slip come with a home?

Not automatically. Slips change hands on different terms from one home to the next. Some are leased, some are bought and some are sold together with a particular apartment, so before you sign, get these four things in writing:

• whether a slip is part of the sale
• who holds title to it
• its yearly cost
• the largest boat it will take

The docks are on Moorings Bay, one of The Moorings' linked bays. Boats reach the Gulf through Doctors Pass, which lies about half a mile southwest in a straight line from the buildings.

Can Commodore Club owners use Moorings Beach Park?

Not just by owning here. The beach most often linked with The Moorings is Moorings Beach Park, and its owner is the Moorings Property Owners Association, a voluntary neighborhood association. The park sits at 2101 Gulf Shore Boulevard North on the far side of Doctors Pass. That's about 0.7 mile from the buildings in a straight line and about 1.4 miles by road, because no road crosses the pass.

Entry takes a membership that each new owner applies for separately, paying a one-time new-member fee and then annual dues. The association's instruction to a new owner is short: "Pay the appropriate fees and include proof of ownership of your new home."

Three membership terms can change a buyer's plans, and the first is about lapses: let a membership go for a year, and rejoining costs the new-member fee again. An owner can hold only one general membership, linked to whichever home is their residence, and any other Moorings property they own counts as an investment or rental property. And as the association puts it, "During rental periods, property owners relinquish their rights to use the beach park."

What's on the property, and what's nearby?

On the property are a community pool, a grilling area, storage space and bike storage.

The Village Shops on Venetian Bay, which locals call Venetian Village, are about 1.1 miles north in a straight line and about 1.3 miles by road. The Moorings is a City of Naples neighborhood, so the City, not Collier County, is the local government.

What should you read before buying in a building this old?

Three documents, before anything else in the paperwork. Both buildings are over fifty years old, and both are tall enough for Florida's condominium safety rules to apply in full. An engineer or architect had to inspect the structure of each, with a first-round deadline at the close of 2024. A professional study also has to fix how much is saved toward the roof, the structure and the other major parts of the building.

The inspector's findings and the state of those savings are what decide whether a large one-off bill lands on owners. So for whichever building the home is in, ask to see the inspector's report, the savings study and the latest adopted budget, and read them first.

What does it cost to own at Commodore Club?

Two-bedroom homes in the 1970 building have sold from the $590,000s to around $850,000. That range covers those homes only, and says nothing about the 1973 building.

Every home carries a condominium assessment. Budget around $1,600 a month for it, a number deliberately set near the top. Most homes are assessed less than that, so treat it as a safe budget rather than the going rate.

The beach park sits about 1.4 miles away by road because of the same pass that gets a boat out to the Gulf. Doctors Pass was dredged on its present line in 1960, when two boulder jetties went in to stop it wandering along the shore.