Collier's Reserve Country Club

Canoes and kayaks go into the Cocohatchee River from the club dock at Collier's Reserve, then head out through the mangroves and down the river toward the Gulf of Mexico. Fishing needs no boat at all, since lines go in straight off the dock.

Inland, 130 of the community's 450 acres are conservation land, crossed by trails for walking and cycling. Early on some mornings the club leads guided bird walks, and what you see depends on the season. Around that land sit one golf course and 224 single-family houses in North Naples, reached through a single gated entrance with a staffed gatehouse and automatic entry for residents. Club and homeowners' association work from the same grounds. Ownership of both passed from Collier Development Corporation to members and residents in 2001.

Who designed the golf course, and what else is there to play?

Arthur Hills laid out the 18-hole course, which opened in 1993, the same year as the club, on land deeded to the club. Several sets of tees on every hole let a round be set up short or long. Planted buffers and setbacks keep the houses out of the line of play. On the golf calendar, men's, women's and mixed events run separately, from casual games up to club tournaments.

Racquets are played at the Sports Center, which has five Har-Tru tennis courts and four pickleball courts, with lessons, open play and weekly pickleball round robins. A veranda above the courts is for watching a match. Two Har-Tru clay bocce courts, added in 2018, carry club leagues through the winter.

The fitness room never closes. Its Life Fitness machines sit alongside a class list of yoga, Pilates, indoor cycling, tai chi and Aqua Fit, and massage therapists work by appointment. The heated pool suits laps or lounging, and there's a dog park on the grounds as well.

Where does the club eat, and what fills the calendar?

Everyday meals belong to the Boathouse, on the river, which serves casual food from morning to night in the open-air River Room or at the Dry Dock Bar. The Clubhouse, updated in 2020, takes the finer dinners and the bigger parties, and its terrace is where drinks start before dinner.

Through the year the club puts on dinner shows, themed parties and holiday celebrations. Member-run groups add lectures, book clubs, dinner clubs, theater outings, museum trips, bridge and mahjongg.

How far is the drive to the beach, Mercato and the airport?

Drive times by road from inside the gate, assuming empty roads:

• NCH North Naples Hospital, about 1.2 miles (roughly 6 minutes)
• Mercato, about 2.9 miles (9 minutes)
• Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park, about 3 miles (9 minutes)
• Vanderbilt Beach Park, about 4.4 miles (11 minutes)
• Fifth Avenue South, about 10.7 miles (23 minutes)
• Southwest Florida International Airport, about 27 miles (39 minutes)

In season, allow longer. Both beaches are public parks reached by car, because the community has no beach or beach club of its own and nothing the club offers sits off the property.

What kind of houses are there, and what do they sell for?

Houses only: every home is detached, and Collier's Reserve has no condominiums, villas or attached homes. The 224 houses occupy 228 platted lots, because a handful were built across a lot and a half and one across two. The community was established in 1992, with houses built from 1994 onward.

They run from about 3,150 to about 6,100 square feet, with 3 to 5 bedrooms. Houses here have sold from around $1.5 million to around $3.7 million.

Do you have to join the club to buy a house here?

Yes. Every buyer joins, and joining is by application. The association's recorded declaration says it in one sentence: "A person or a corporation, partnership, trust or other entity obtaining title to a Parcel is required, as a use restriction incident to residential ownership in the Collier’s Reserve Community, to become a member of the Country Club." The lowest category a buyer can join at is Equity Social. Owners who had never joined before March 2004 are excused, but the exemption stops with them, and whoever buys from one of them must join.

The club decides each application. If it turns a buyer down, the seller has to tell the association, which then has 30 days to produce a different buyer of its own choosing at the price already agreed, and that buyer may even be the club itself, or the association. If nobody is produced, the original sale can go ahead. The application is part of closing, so it's worth sending in early.

Because joining is required, what the club charges is part of the price of a home here; the membership office gives the figures on request. Golf memberships are limited in number, so a buyer who wants golf should ask whether one is open before committing to a house.

What is due at closing, and what should you budget each month?

Separately from the club, each buyer pays the association a one-time working capital contribution at the closing table. Its board fixes that amount and may alter it, and the money doesn't come back to you on a later sale. That figure is worth having in writing from the association before a contract is signed.

One homeowners' association, Collier's Reserve Association, Inc., governs the whole community, with no neighborhood associations beneath it. Budget around $2,400 a month in fees. Plan with that number because it sits near the top, and most houses here come out below it, some well below.

Can you rent the house out?

Once a calendar year, and only the whole house. A lease must run between 120 days and twelve months, with no renting of rooms, no subletting and no shared ownership schemes. It must be registered with the association no later than 15 days ahead of the tenant's arrival. The tenant pays a transfer fee, and that fee opens the club to them at the owner's membership level until the lease ends.