Monaco Beach Club

Monaco Beach Club is one condominium building at 4401 Gulf Shore Boulevard North, in Park Shore, on the water side of the road. It holds 138 residences across 18 residential floors and was completed in 1983. The ground it stands on reaches from Gulf Shore Boulevard west to the sand. The Gulf frontage belongs to the building itself, not to a club somewhere else.

Start with the structure. Florida sets a schedule for having an older condominium tower examined by an engineer, and for funding reserves against the work that examination calls for. At 18 floors and a 1983 completion, this building is inside that rule, and the deadline for its first examination has passed. What the engineer found, and how well the reserves stand against it, decides whether the monthly fee keeps its shape or every home here gets a bill for the work.

What should you read before making an offer?

Three documents, and they come from the association. The engineer's report says what condition the structure is in, and whether it called for a second and more invasive round of investigation. The reserve study puts a figure on the big repairs and says over what horizon they fall due. The budget shows whether the board is setting that money aside in full. Ask for all three:

• The engineer's structural report, and whether a second round followed it.
• The reserve study behind that report, and what it prices the big repairs at.
• The budget, and whether it funds the study in full.

This address is inside the City of Naples, so the city rather than Collier County is its building department, and inspections here are the city's business.

How is Monaco Beach Club owned?

One building, one association, one declaration. There's no master association above it and no second set of neighborhood dues underneath, so the monthly cost comes from a single board working from a single budget. Nothing has been added to the property since 1983 either. No later phases, no second build year, no other buildings sharing the accounts.

Park Shore also has a property owners association of its own, set up in 1971 for owners across the Park Shore subdivision, and membership in it is voluntary. That body keeps a private beach park. It isn't the condominium association here and it has no authority over this building, so it plays no part in buying at 4401. Beach access at this address doesn't run through it either, because the building fronts the Gulf. An owner who wants the park joins it and pays for it on its own terms.

How big are the residences?

From about 1,850 to about 2,830 square feet. That span covers all 138 residences, not just whatever you happen to see for sale. Most floors carry eight residences, the first two carry fewer, and the top level is a penthouse floor. Floor numbering runs from 1 to 18 and skips 13.

Sales in the building have run from around $1.1 million to around $2.4 million.

How far is Venetian Village?

About four tenths of a mile south along Gulf Shore Boulevard, on the bay side of the road. The building is on the beach side, so getting to the shops means heading south and crossing over.

What is in the building and on the grounds?

Inside the building: a fitness center, a community room with a kitchen, a conference room and the Monaco Room. On the same ground, between the boulevard and the sand, sit the heated pool and the spa, a cabana with seating and four barbecue grills. Tennis courts, beach chairs and the landscaping are out there too, along with bicycle storage, covered garage parking and a car wash station. The lobby is an atrium.

The association runs a list of services owners pay for as well: home watch, vehicle care, office services, notary, dry cleaning, and maintenance and handyman work. The desk in that atrium lobby has someone behind it at every hour of the day.