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How depressed is the Punta Gorda area? I know the downtown area was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Charlie ( I think that was the name), but I heard they have mostly rebuilt the downtown area. What are some nice residential areas there? Do they have any entertainment at nigth in the area or do you have to drive far to enjoy that. Finally are there any healthcare facilities in the area? Thanks to all in advance
Patty
Downtown Punta Gorda was hit pretty bad by Charlie but it is all rebuilt now. The hotel got hit and many of the homes right along Retta Esplanade (the main street along the harbor). It seems every weekend they have something going on down there. This weekend is the Seafood Festival and last weekend was the Peace River Art Show. On Thursday nights they have a jam sessions in Gilchrist Park. Punta Gorda is a pretty cool town.
There are many places to go hang out: Harpoon Harry's (they usually have bands on the weekends), Bin82-which is new so someone else will have to comment on this place, I hear it's pretty cool, River City Grill is always good. I love to eat at Pies & Plates in PG.
Charlotte Regional Medical Center is in downtown PG on Marion St. Then right over the bridge is Fawcett Hospital and Peace River Medical Center.
Now, for areas that you should check out: Punta Gorda Isles is probably one of the best places if you want to be within biking/walking distance to downtown and have good access to the harbor. All of the seawalls in Punta Gorda Isles are maintained by the city of Punta Gorda, which isn't the case in nearby neighboring Port Charlotte.
Then there's the Burnt Store area: Burnt Store Marina, Burnt Store Lakes, Burnt Store Meadows, Burnt Store Colony, Burnt Store Village, Burnt Store Isles. Burnt Store Marina is the only gated community out of them all. It also has the largest deep water marina in the SW gulf coast with 525 wet slips. Sailboat Magazine ranked this area one of the top ten places to sail. It also has a 27 hole golf course and restaurant.
Punta Gorda also has a really quaint historical section the runs along Gilchrist Park and the harbor. My sister-in-law lives in there and says she will never leave.
Pirate Harbor is also worth checking out but not as close to the downtown area.
Yoohoo, BigHouse--this post is right up your alley
DT Punta Gorda is beautiful, and is a great example of how to rebuild after a hurricane. They took what was handed to them and made something wonderful from the rubble.
If you like to hang out at bars & listen to music, you will have no trouble finding something to do... if you like to hang out by the water and watch boats go by, you will have no trouble finding something to do!
Downtown Punta Gorda was hit pretty bad by Charlie but it is all rebuilt now. The hotel got hit and many of the homes right along Retta Esplanade (the main street along the harbor). It seems every weekend they have something going on down there. This weekend is the Seafood Festival and last weekend was the Peace River Art Show. On Thursday nights they have a jam sessions in Gilchrist Park. Punta Gorda is a pretty cool town.
There are many places to go hang out: Harpoon Harry's (they usually have bands on the weekends), Bin82-which is new so someone else will have to comment on this place, I hear it's pretty cool, River City Grill is always good. I love to eat at Pies & Plates in PG.
Charlotte Regional Medical Center is in downtown PG on Marion St. Then right over the bridge is Fawcett Hospital and Peace River Medical Center.
Now, for areas that you should check out: Punta Gorda Isles is probably one of the best places if you want to be within biking/walking distance to downtown and have good access to the harbor. All of the seawalls in Punta Gorda Isles are maintained by the city of Punta Gorda, which isn't the case in nearby neighboring Port Charlotte.
Then there's the Burnt Store area: Burnt Store Marina, Burnt Store Lakes, Burnt Store Meadows, Burnt Store Colony, Burnt Store Village, Burnt Store Isles. Burnt Store Marina is the only gated community out of them all. It also has the largest deep water marina in the SW gulf coast with 525 wet slips. Sailboat Magazine ranked this area one of the top ten places to sail. It also has a 27 hole golf course and restaurant.
Punta Gorda also has a really quaint historical section the runs along Gilchrist Park and the harbor. My sister-in-law lives in there and says she will never leave.
Pirate Harbor is also worth checking out but not as close to the downtown area.
Yoohoo, BigHouse--this post is right up your alley
Hey Guys!,
Since both SoFLGal and ADIP called me out, I thought I'd jump in!
I love it here. There are signs of Charlie, but mostly in peoples minds. Everyone remembers and will never forget, but if not for memories, and a beautiful monument, of "Bent but not Broken" Palm Trees at Laishley Park to act as a reminder, one would never know now. It is a beautiful park where they hold great festivals all the time! You should check it out! Recently there was a art festival there that was cool, and this weekend there is the Peace River Seafood festival, where they will serve food, and have bands & music play.
PGI has something like that going on all the time! On Thursday nights, they have music playing at Gilchrist Park, which overlooks the harbor - beautiful. The weather here always cooperates!
There is a brand new super high end hotel that is near the water, and it has a roof top bar and pool! When my friends come to town that's where I'll put them up, if they overload my house! LOL
SoFLGal - real estate agent extraordinaire - help me find the perfect house, which I stole at as a foreclosure, with her help. Read my "Punta Gorda Anyone" thread on the Florida board, and you will learn a lot.
The restaurants in PGI are not the chain type. They are all authentic, fresh, varying, and the chef's are great! They all have great bars and you can meet some very friendly people there - occasionally even me!
I have a canal home, with a pool, a dock, a boat lift (with my boat, of course), and I travel by boat and bike and soon kayak to Fisherman's Village for a refreshment now and then. ;-). The canals are all beautiful, and the homes beautifully maintained. During christmas week, the home owner's all decorate the canal side of their homes with some fantatic decorations, and cruising the canals at night was spectacular.
The stores in town are really well funished with some nice, not junky, mall furnishings. Although if you want the mall, walmart, target, home depot, and the like you don't have far to run, but they keep that stuff out of the town area, so it remains special and SWFLish. PG and PGI are nice small historical towns, and they're are purposefully keeping it that way.
We ride our bikes and walk everywhere, as do many people here. It is nice. We've hit every beach around a couple times, and they are only a half hour drive or so, and easy to get to, so unless you actually have a beach house, the drive is no more inconvienient.
There are some great golf courses around - gotta try them out more, and a really nice Yatch Club (thinking of joining), and a nice tennis / fitness club in town that we joined so we can meet people! - - Love people! Especially the women! - - LOL gotta throw out some flirtations!
Any way, if you're parched, let me know, I'll join you for coffee or a beer, and be happy to tell you more about this place! Although I can't come close to what ADIP and SWFLWOMAN can. {smile on face - thinking that was funny}
The Punta Gorda Port Charlotte area has really done well since Charlie, I called it home when Charlie went through, but we had to take down our house on the Peace River as a result and moved to Venice. I still fish the waters there regularly.
Downtown PG is very nice and there are plans for even further development, Fisherman Village has been the mainstay for tourism for years, and I've spent many a night watching sports and having a few with friends. Something nice about an open air bar/restaurant right on the water. The Perfect Caper is an excelent restuarant for fine dining, and the Celtic Ray is brilliant for a pint and some banger and mash.
Every Thursday local musicians get together and jam in Gilchrist park alongside the Peace River.
Across the river in Port Charlotte Gators is a great local spot, with live music or a DJ.
The Punta Gorda area is a fantastic location for people that love boating and fishing.
Punta Gorda Isles is a terrific neighborhood where most homes are on saltwater canals, and most locations provide relatively speedy access to the open water of Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River. Sailors like PGI because the waters are consistantly deep and will provide 4+ ft of draft even on the winter low tides.
Burnt Store Isles also is mostly waterfront canal homes, but because of shoaling on Aligator creek isn't as attractive for deep draft boats. Both PGI and BSI have golf cources
The larger cities of FT Myers and Sarasota are a little over and hours drive south and north respectivelly, there is more night life in both cities compared to PG.
Beaches are at least a 30 minute drive from PG, but if you go by boat the time to get there isn't as important. One of my favorite day trips was to head out the pass at Boca Grande and pull up at the South Beach restuarant on gasparillia island, great beach and lunch at South Beach is very pleasant.
Plus there is the added benefit of seeing rolling tarpon in the pass, and in May and June there is almost always someone hooked up.
Today you can find big view Peace Riverfront homes in Harbour Heights which is just up river from PG for under $400k. That's where I used to live, still have family on the river there. It's great to live on big water, especially if you love to fish. Last season I boated a number of Tarpon in the 80lb class within sight of my mother-in-laws dock.
Another community you may want to check out is Seminole Lakes. It's a gated community with almost 500 homes with a golf course.
They have a great web site. slccfl.com
Thanks to all of you for the great info on PG. My husband and I are visiting family in May going from Miami to St Pete area and while we're there we might just check out some areas for possible relocation. We had out hearts set on the Charleston area in SC but jobs in that area are extremely limited for me and home prices are much higher than in PG. We have seen some homes online that are short sells that are amazing homes for amazing prices. It is very sad that people have lost their homes to this bad economy and I feel a little guilty even looking at these short sells or foreclosures but there are some amazing prices for some beautiful homes. One thing I didn't realize was that the beach is a half hour drive away and I'm not sure I like that. We would love to be able to take a walk in the evening along the beach with our dog. Then stop for a drink at an outside bar where maybe well behaved animals are allowed. In Charleston at Red's Icehouse you can bring your dog to their outside deck and have drink and eat there. I loved it because it was on Shem Creek and you could watch the shrimp boats and private boats go by. I'm sure there must be something similar in PG area like that. I was thinking Venice might have the nice beach area closer to what we want but the prices might be higher too. How much is it for home insurance in PG ? Again I really appreciate all your information. Have a great day!
Patty
Although on the water, Punta Gorda, Cape Coral do not have a 'beach' per se. If you want a beach it would have to be Venice or Ft Myers Beach. If you want to see R.E. listings on or very near water in Punta Gorda, go to myfloridahomesmls.com use zip codes 33950 and 33955 PGI has canals to the harbor.
Pattig you can find affordable housing in Venice where I live now. Having the beach within a short walk is one of those joys that's hard to understand until it becomes part of your life.
There are several restaurants in Venice where I go and bring the dogs. Lunas has tables outside where we enjoy great pizza and a pitcher while tobby and ming lay under the table.
Home insurance costs are very dependent on location, age of home, style of construction and the replacement costs. If you select a place outside of the flood and velocity zones then you won't need flood insurance which can cost upwards of $500/year. Home insurance in Florida consists of 3 components Flood, home owners, and wind. So if you are outside of a flood zone you can choose not to have flood insurance. The wind insurance is the component that is highly dependent on age and type of construction. With an older home you can add wind mitigating enhancements that will reduce your costs. Also an inspection of an older home can verify that the construction qualifies for mitigation discounts, anyway to get a ball park go to Compare Homeowner's Insurance Rates
here you will see the rates approved by the FL state insurance commission.
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Thanks
