Doc's Dream Part 3

In some ways, modern day Isles of Capri is not at all the way Doc Loach had envisioned it in 1955 when he started developing the four uninhabited mangroves islands that comprise the Isles. It is certainly no longer a fishing village. Prices for waterfront homes and lots now start in the millions. But in some ways, it’s probably just the way he always imagined it.

“You’d never expect it to be what it turned out to be,” said Chris Middlebrook, who moved to the Isles as a 24-year-old in 1979. Middlebrook took Doc's Dream and ran with it. For 20 years Middlebrook was a living, breathing testimonial for the Isles of Capri lifestyle as the island’s fire chief and chief real estate salesman. With each home or lot Middlebrook sold he was fulfilling Doc’s Dream of building a community. 

Though the names and faces have changed through the decades, today's Isles of Capri residents still show the resolve of Doc and Rosanna Loach. Like Rosanna and Doc, today’s Capri residents are willing to fight with county leaders to try preserve their relaxed island lifestyle.

 “It had always been marketed as a fishing village,” Middlebrook said. "That's what Doc Loach wanted. We were what was called a bedroom community on the water. And our lots were a little bit smaller than they were on Marco. But we had some beautiful properties, all direct access - something that Marco didn't have to offer like we did. And that really helped us grow. You either like Capri or you don't like Capri. It was one of those things you kind of instantly recognize when you start looking around.”

Doc and Rosanna Loach didn’t live long enough to see Isles of Capri fully developed.

“You know, they never really made a lot of money,” Middlebrook said. “They had to give stuff away in the beginning to get people to take a chance on him because it took him a long time as a one-man business to finish the Isles of Capri. As time went on, vacant lots got to be a little bit more money, but they didn't really make a lot of money until the end."

Isles of Capri grew slowly during Middlebrook’s early years on the job. Capri didn’t have a huge marketing campaign delivering customers to them.

"Deltona was marketing Marco Island and Michigan Homes,” Middelbrook said. “The Michigan Homes were all along Collier Boulevard coming off the bridge on the left and right. They built all their model homes there. And so that really helped Marco take off much more than we did. We were slower paced, one road in, one road out, and connected by a road connecting the four islands together, with a little bit of commercial. We had a couple great restaurants. Jim and Eydie’s was a big attraction for us. We became, over the years, known for restaurants, the Island Galley, of course the Pelican Bend and Jim and Eydie's were the big ones. The Blue Heron opened up. That was a finer restaurant. Dignitaries and governors and a couple presidents of the United States had eaten there. Richard Nixon ate there. And all that exposure helped Capri grow.”

"People were buying lots and building houses and things were moving along pretty good,” Middlebrook said. “In the beginning, there were not a lot of real estate offices on Marco. And Marco didn't really care too much about Capri when I was working with Rosanna Loach in 1979. We did belong to MLS, but nobody really ever came over here much, mainly because they didn't know the market, they didn't want to get involved in selling our cheaper properties. So they didn't show Capri. They showed Marco, and Marco was always 50 percent more than us.”

Middlebrook concentrated on selling Isles of Capri.

"I remember taking full page ads out in the paper in the early 1980s for $200,” he said, "and I would put maybe eight homes in the ad. I was able to advertise like the big people did because I had a bunch of listings. And I didn't go to Marco. I listed and sold on Capri. Capri kind of sold itself, and I never was a salesman. All I did was answer their questions and show them around and try to be as knowledgeable as I could be about the things they were concerned about. It was a slower pace.”

Middlebrook said that in the 1980s and 1990s, Capri people were different than the Marco Island clientele.

"Absolutely more down-to-earth people that were not pretentious,” Middlebrook said. “People were getting a great value compared to what you could get on Marco if you didn't mind a little smaller lot and a lot less commercial. On Marco, you had to be in a nice pair of shorts and a nice shirt to walk out on the end of your dock and clean your fish. That was what the atmosphere was like on Marco. Well, on Capri, you could be in a pair of old shorts and an old t-shirt and sandals and walk out there and not care what you look like. And that was kind of the difference in the people, I felt.”

He said Capri residents in those days were humble.

"The people there recognized what they had,” he said, "but they didn't need the flash. I learned a lesson way back in the beginning of my time selling there that on Capri, you can't go by what people drive or how they dress and correlate that to how successful or who they were in their life. By the time they got to Isles of Capri, they were just folks like you and me. They weren't pretentious. And that's the word I use a lot. But we had people that were the owners of Winnebago. The heiress to the Sunoco Oil Company lived in the two top penthouses in Marco Towers.”

Marco Towers is an interesting story in itself. At one time, the entire point on West Pelican Avenue was going to be developed by Marco Towers Development. They ended up with just one building. Later La Peninsula was built, then Twin Dolphins followed to complete the development of the point.

Middlebrook, who left the area in 2000, finds that Isles of Capri still flies under the radar compared to Marco Island.

"Even today,” he said, "people say, ‘Where's your son live?' I say, 'Well, he lives on a little island community called Isles of Capri.' They’ll say, 'I never heard of that.’ I’ll say, ‘It's right next to Marco Island.’ They’ll say, ‘Oh, we know where Marco is.’ It's still kind of an underplayed little community."

Middlebrook is proud of his real estate and firefighting career on Isles of Capri. But he’s most proud of his son Beau Middlebrook, who has followed in his footsteps in the real estate business on Isles of Capri.

"I have to say,” Middlebrook said, “I’m proudest of Beau doing what he's doing now, taking over where I left off.” 

Beau Middlebrook is a product of the Capri lifestyle if there’s ever been one. He was six months old when he moved to the Isles of Capri with his parents. A 26-year real estate veteran, he has his own unique take on the changes that have taken place on the island over his lifetime.

"Being raised and still living on Capri since the late 1970s,” Beau said, "I've seen everything around us change. State Road 951 is four lanes now, we have two bridges to Marco. I’ve been blessed and lucky enough to raise my family where I grew up. My boys take the same 13-foot Boston Whaler I had and cruise the same waters and beaches, fishing and waterskiing every day, just like I did. But it’s not the same by any means. There are more new developments around us than I can count. There are more cars on the road, people in the stores and restaurants, and more boats on the water than I could ever have imagined growing up. The world found out how amazing our area is.”

But Beau feels the Isles of Capri still has advantages that no one else in Collier County has. 

“Fortunately, when it comes to Capri, we are surrounded by protected mangroves, so we are safe from being expanded or getting boxed in,” he said. “The business section on Capri is the last bit of land that can be developed. I wish that Collier County could buy all the remaining vacant land there and turn it into a park, but waterfront land is way too valuable nowadays.”

Jeri Neuhaus, owner of Capri Realty since 2003, has seen plenty of changes.

"More children and more full-timers,” Jeri Neuhaus said. "Which are two great changes. Where most of the people were either from the Midwest or maybe Europe and Canada,” she said, "we're seeing a lot of people now that are not Midwesterners, a lot of Northeast folks and a lot of Westerners, a lot from California, Washington. It's a completely different demographic."

Isles of Capri has always had a good relationship with Marco Island, but some see that relationship growing stronger. One is Ann Hall, who wrote about the comings and goings of Capri’s residents for years in local newspapers and via email.

"I think there's a good relationship now,” Hall said. "I'll tell you one thing, after this last flood that we had and the storm that we had with Ian, Marco Island was like our right arm. They had so many volunteers, so many of their restaurants, so many of their people, even some of them that hadn't fixed their own places, were over here helping.”

I think we have a much, much stronger relationship with Marco Island,” Hall continued. “And I know that they could not have been better neighbors during that disaster. I can't say enough good things about what they did."

Neuhaus has definitely seen the Capri-Marco connection getting stronger and stronger.

“It’s a friendly relationship,” Neuhaus said. "That's where we all shop. We go to the doctors on Marco. They're good neighbors. I think most of us here on the island like our neighbors on Marco a lot. But we like driving down through the mangroves and coming home and being away from it.”

Neuhaus and Middlebrook are not in agreement with a recent development on the Isles of Capri. Gulf Bay Development will soon begin work on an 80-unit condominium development that will be built on the Isles of Capri despite the objections of many of its residents.

"I think it's an abomination,” Neuhaus said. "I helped fight it. I spoke. We were there at the County Commissioners’ meeting. We prevailed before the planning commission. We prevailed with county staff. And then the commissioners decided they know what's best for us.” 

"Gulf Bay Development is building three nine-story buildings with a total of 80 units in the commercial section,” Beau Middlebrook said, "where Backwater Nick's and my family's old real estate office used to be. To me, it’s picking the lesser of two evils. I’m not happy about having the tall buildings being built there, but I’d rather have 80 condos instead of another big restaurant and bar like a Stan’s or a Snook Inn. You're talking 80 condos with approximately 160 people who live a quiet life and park under their building versus a busy restaurant with 1,000 to 1,500 people a day coming here to eat, drink and party. I feel we have enough restaurants, bars and tourists coming here as it is, not to mention there is also another big $50 million marina, Capri Harbor Marina, being built where the old Capri Fisheries used to be. They’re gonna have 222 dry stack spots with 70 wet slips, plus another big restaurant and bar. That alone will bring another 500 to 1,000 people every day to our little island. So when I consider everything that’s happening on Capri and our area, I’ll happily take the 80 condos over more restaurants and bars any day of the week.”

Capri Fisheries, built in 1971 by John and Doris Marini, was a landmark on Isles of Capri. John Marini built 7,000 homes on the east coast of Florida before moving to Isles of Capri. They sold out to Truluck’s seafood restaurant in 1998. It has since been razed. 

“Doris told me that John said, ‘We’re going into the Stone Crab business,’ Hall said. “She asked John, ‘What the heck’s a stone crab?’"

There’s one thing Neuhaus, Beau Middlebrook, and Hall all have in common - they understand the people of Isles of Capri.

"One thing that hasn’t changed is their mentality,” Beau Middlebrook said. "The people who live on Capri don't want to live in a city or big development. They want to live in Small Town USA, where everyone knows each other and waves to each other. Where we hang out together, boat and fish together, help each other out and enjoy the island lifestyle we all love. I say Isles of Capri is where Mayberry meets Key West.”

"I think we're an island of misfits,” Neuhaus laughs. "I think that we're mixed. A lot of us like our privacy and a lot of us like to be social. But they don't want to be right in the middle of things. We like not having the traffic. But we also recognize that that means we don't have all the conveniences, either.”

“What stands out to me most about the Isles of Capri is the people,” Hall said. "The people just absolutely are community oriented. It's the best place we've ever lived. My husband and I are both in our low 80s, and we have never, ever lived in a place as beautiful as this one. It's the people that really make it beautiful."

Beau Middlebrook perhaps best captures the feelings of Capri residents past and present with one sentence.

 "There’s still no place I’d rather be,” Beau Middlebrook said, "than on Isles of Capri."