Babcock Ranch

Babcock Ranch is America's first fully solar-powered town — an 18,000-acre master-planned community in Charlotte and Lee Counties, Florida, roughly half an hour northeast of Fort Myers. Developed by Kitson & Partners and planned for 19,000 homes and around 50,000 residents at build-out, it's an area larger than Manhattan designed from day one around sustainability, resilience, and walkable small-town living. The community's sustainability credentials are the real story. A neighboring 870-acre solar field, combined with the country's largest solar-plus-battery storage system, generates enough clean energy to power the entire town with excess returned to the grid. Homes are built to Florida Green Building Coalition standards, are on average 24% more efficient than Florida code requires, and come smart-home-ready. Elevated land planning and native landscaping minimize flood risk — a claim Babcock Ranch famously validated during Hurricane Ian, when the community maintained power and emerged largely unscathed while surrounding areas struggled. Daily life revolves around Founders Square, the lakeside downtown that anchors the community — restaurants, shops, a health center, a co-working space, a charter school, and a large event lawn that hosts concerts, farmer's markets, and festivals. Over 50 miles of trails link the neighborhoods, seven lakes are open for kayaking and fishing, and amenities include Lake Timber Lodge, Cypress Lodge, parks, pools, pickleball, tennis, bocce, and golf. Babcock Ranch is multigenerational by design — you'll find young families, professionals, and retirees living across its neighborhoods — but for 55+ buyers, the headline is Regency at Babcock Ranch, a gated active-adult community by Toll Brothers. Regency is the only dedicated 55+ neighborhood inside Babcock Ranch and offers its own exclusive amenities: a clubhouse with a resort-style pool, spa and cabanas, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a golf simulator, pickleball and tennis courts, bocce ball, shuffleboard, a putting green, yoga and event lawn, BBQ pavilion, fire pit, and scenic walking trails — all on top of access to the broader Babcock Ranch amenity system. Across Babcock Ranch's neighborhoods, pricing ranges from the mid-$300Ks for villas and townhomes up to $2 million+ for custom lake-view estates. Builders include Lennar, Pulte, Toll Brothers, Meritage, D.R. Horton, William Ryan Homes, and AR Homes, with active new construction across many sections. CDD fees vary by property and typically run $1,800–$2,200 per year; HOA fees range from around $100 to nearly $800 per month depending on neighborhood, with internet included community-wide. For buyers who care about sustainability, modern infrastructure, storm resilience, and a walkable small-town feel — with the option of a dedicated gated 55+ section inside a larger multigenerational community — Babcock Ranch is in a category of its own.