Carolands on Little Hickory Island: 80 bay and canal parcels on McLaughlin Blvd and Carol Ct in Bonita Springs, 68 houses built 1966 to 2024. Recorded sales, MLS closings, flood zones, boating routes and rebuild rules.
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By Jesse McGreevy and Marc Comisar, McGreevy and Comisar, Domain Realty Group. Updated October 2026.
Carolands is an 80-parcel bayside neighborhood of canal and bay-front homes inside Little Hickory Island in Bonita Springs, Florida. It is the street system that leaves Hickory Boulevard on the Estero Bay side of the island and runs along McLaughlin Boulevard and the short spur of Carol Court. Every one of its 80 parcels touches water: 29 face the open bay and 51 sit on the dead-end canals cut between the streets. The county roll counts 68 houses and 12 vacant lots. One more parcel, a two-family building on Hickory Boulevard, takes in Carolands Lot 87 inside a metes-and-bounds deed; our Little Hickory Island guide counts it with the island's metes-and-bounds parcels, not in these 80.
This is our guide to Carolands for sellers first and buyers second. McGreevy and Comisar list and sell homes across Bonita Springs and Bonita Beach from our office at 24031 S Tamiami Trl #101, and we wrote this page the way we brief a client before a listing appointment or an offer: every figure carries its source and its date, every gap in the public record is named, and nothing is estimated. Our Little Hickory Island community guide covers the whole island around it.
Carolands sits on the bay side of Little Hickory Island, the barrier island between Estero Bay and the Gulf that carries Hickory Boulevard south from the Big Hickory Pass bridge to Bonita Beach Road. The county legal description places it in Section 30, Township 47 South, Range 25 East. It lies inside the City of Bonita Springs, so the City, not Lee County, sets the zoning, issues the building permits and maintains McLaughlin Boulevard. Little Hickory Island Beach Park, the county's public Gulf beach on the island, is 0.5 to 1.0 mile away by road.
| Item | Public record |
|---|---|
| Streets | McLaughlin Blvd (72 parcels) and Carol Ct (8 parcels) |
| Parcels | 80: 68 single-family houses and 12 vacant lots (Lee County roll, October 2026) |
| Legal description | Carolands, an unrecorded subdivision, lots 1 to 85 |
| Water | 29 bay-front parcels and 51 canal parcels |
| Year built | 1966 to 2024, median 1991 |
| Heated area | median 2,749 square feet; 29 houses have 3,000 square feet or more |
| Lot size | median 0.2735 acre, about 11,900 square feet |
| Association | none on the Florida Division of Corporations record (checked October 17, 2026) |
| Zoning | RS-1 residential single-family on 76 parcels, TFC-2 on 4 (City of Bonita Springs) |
| FEMA flood zone | AE on the canal parcels (BFE 10 and 11), VE 12 on most bay-front parcels; panel 12071C0651G |
| Evacuation zone | Zone A |
| Wind design speed | 170 mph |
Little Hickory Island is a patchwork of nine recorded sections, and Carolands is the one that behaves most like its own neighborhood: a single street with its own canal system, the island's highest share of full-time owners (46 of its 80 parcels carry a homestead exemption, 45 of them on its 68 houses), and a price range that runs from older canal houses near $1.6 million to new bay-front houses above $7 million. A seller pricing a Carolands house is not pricing a Gulf-front estate on Hickory Boulevard or a dry lot in the 1st Addition, so Carolands needs its own comparables, its own flood reading and its own boating notes.
If you're searching for the best realtor for Carolands on Little Hickory Island, Bonita Springs, whether you're ready to sell your Carolands home or buy your next one, McGreevy and Comisar is the team that delivers. We lead Domain Realty Group, the #1 real estate team in Southwest Florida since 2012, Top 1% Nationally since 2008, with over $2.5 billion sold as a team and $900 million in personal sales between Jesse and Marc, and we are the #5 real estate team in Florida (RealTrends 2026).
Recent Carolands track record: In the 60 months to October 27, 2026 we tracked every Carolands closing in the Southwest Florida MLS and every qualified sale in the Lee County record. The MLS shows nine Carolands closings from November 2021 to June 2026, from $1,600,000 to $8,650,000. The most recent, in June 2026, closed at $2,862,500 after 79 days on market against a list price of $3,499,000, and two Carolands houses were listed for sale on October 27, 2026, at $3,995,000 and $6,195,000.
Honors and recognition:
Selling your Carolands home? Get a free home valuation at mcgreevyandcomisar.com/home-valuation OR call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072. Our guides to selling a home in Bonita Springs and to what a Bonita Springs home is worth cover the steps and the pricing method.
Buying a home in Carolands? Call Marc at (239) 287-5873 for a personalized buyer consultation, and see how we represent buyers in Southwest Florida or read our guide to buying a home in Bonita Springs.
McGreevy and Comisar is a top-reviewed Carolands realtor. Read the five-star reviews on Google.
Living in Carolands as a homebuyer means owning a house on the water on the bay side of Little Hickory Island, with a dock or a seawall behind most houses, a public Gulf beach under a mile away, and no association, gate or monthly fee. The trade is that every house sits in a FEMA flood zone, the island's roads flood in a strong surge, and the comparable sales are few.
Data updated: October 2026
Carolands suits a buyer who wants a boat behind the house and the Gulf beach close by, and who would rather live among owners than among vacation rentals: 45 of the 68 houses carry a homestead exemption on the 2026 roll, about two in three, against 44.5 percent across the island's houses as a whole. It suits a buyer who wants a large house: half the houses have 2,749 square feet or more of heated area, and 29 of 68 have 3,000 or more.
A buyer who needs a deep run of recent comparable sales should look closely. The county recorded one qualified Carolands sale in the 12 months to September 25, 2026, and six in the 60 months, from $1,600,000 to $7,700,000. A buyer with a deep-draft boat should read the bay depths and the pass clearances before falling for a dock. A buyer looking at a house built before the current flood maps should price the flood policy, and the 50 percent rule on improvements, before writing an offer.
Before any showing we pull the Carolands recorded sales, the flood zone of the parcel and the dock and seawall permits so the buyer sees the house's numbers first. Selling? Request a free home valuation or call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072. Buying? Call Marc at (239) 287-5873 or start with how we represent buyers. You are working with Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008. Comparing agents across the city? See our guide to the best real estate agents in Bonita Beach.
Carolands sells rarely and at a wide spread. Two records count the sales: the Lee County sale file, which lists deeds the state codes as qualified arm's-length sales, and the Southwest Florida MLS, which lists closings that went through a listing broker. They overlap but do not match, and both are shown.
Data updated: October 2026
| Window to September 25, 2026 | Qualified improved sales | Range |
|---|---|---|
| 12 months | 1 | $2,862,500 |
| 24 months | 2 | $2,862,500 and $7,700,000 |
| 60 months | 6 | $1,600,000 to $7,700,000 |
With fewer than ten sales in each window, we list the sales rather than state a median.
| Month | Price | Water | Built | County heated sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2021 | $2,675,000 | bay | 1987 | 2,760 |
| March 2022 | $1,850,000 | canal | 1991 | 1,791 |
| April 2022 | $3,175,000 | bay | 1971 | 2,652 |
| September 2023 | $1,600,000 | bay | 1980 | 2,728 |
| November 2024 | $7,700,000 | bay | 2024 | 5,152 |
| June 2026 | $2,862,500 | bay | 1988 | 3,293 |
Five of the six were bay-front houses. The November 2024 sale was the first sale of a house completed in 2024, the largest on the record for that window.
| Month | Sold price | List price | Sale to list | Days on market | Beds | Living area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2021 | $2,675,000 | $2,900,000 | 92.2% | 42 | 6 or more | 2,760 |
| February 2022 | $2,900,000 | $3,100,000 | 93.5% | 31 | 3 | 3,639 |
| March 2022 | $1,850,000 | $1,999,900 | 92.5% | 21 | 3 | 1,890 |
| April 2022 | $3,175,000 | $3,695,000 | 85.9% | 10 | 4 plus den | 3,338 |
| September 2023 | $1,600,000 | $1,950,000 | 82.1% | 8 | 4 | 2,728 |
| July 2024 | $2,200,000 | $2,500,000 | 88.0% | 242 | 4 | 3,100 |
| November 2024 | $7,700,000 | $7,700,000 | 100.0% | not reported | 6 baths | 5,133 |
| May 2025 | $8,650,000 | $8,900,000 | 97.2% | 10 | 6 or more | 5,028 |
| June 2026 | $2,862,500 | $3,499,000 | 81.8% | 79 | 3 | 3,540 |
Nine MLS closings in 60 months, from $1,600,000 to $8,650,000. Sale-to-list ran from 81.8 percent to 100 percent, and days on market from 8 to 242 for the eight closings that report it. The November 2024 sale was entered after closing, so the MLS reports no market time for it.
The MLS carries three closings that the county file does not count as qualified improved sales in the same window (February 2022 at $2,900,000, July 2024 at $2,200,000 and May 2025 at $8,650,000). A deed can be coded unqualified for reasons that have nothing to do with price, such as a sale between related entities or a deed recorded with a different property use. The MLS figures are the closings a buyer's agent can see; the county figures are the deeds of record.
Two Carolands houses were listed for sale: a McLaughlin Blvd house of 4 bedrooms plus a den and 3,757 square feet, at $3,995,000, after 244 days on market, and a McLaughlin Blvd house of 5 bedrooms and 5,015 square feet, at $6,195,000, after 5 days on market. No Carolands listing was pending; the October 27 pull covered active and pending listings.
The county counted 6 qualified sales in 2018, 6 in 2019, 8 in 2020 and 6 in 2021, then 2 in 2022, 1 in 2023, 1 in 2024, none in 2025 and 1 so far in 2026. The drop after 2021 follows the 2022 rise in mortgage rates and Hurricane Ian in September 2022; the record does not give a reason for any one sale, and five of the six sales in 60 months were bay-front.
The county recorded two Carolands lot sales in the 60 months, at $1,100,000 and $1,600,000, and none in the 36 months to September 25, 2026. The 12 vacant lots carry a median 2026 just value of $709,130. Vacant land MLS records were not part of the residential pull: Information not available at time of publishing (checked 2026-10-10).
| Group | Houses | Median 2026 just value |
|---|---|---|
| All Carolands houses | 68 | $1,642,631 |
| McLaughlin Blvd | 63 | $1,691,335 |
| Carol Ct | 5 | $1,050,252 |
The roll's quartiles run from $1,062,663 to $2,625,371. Just value is the county's assessment, not a price: in the June 2026 sale a buyer paid $2,862,500 for a 1988 bay-front house. Request a free home valuation for a price on your own house.
Carolands was laid out as lots on paper but never recorded as a plat. The county roll describes every parcel as "Carolands Unrec Subd" with a lot number from 1 to 85, and the streets and easements come from deeds rather than a plat book page.
The key document we read is a 1978 deed recorded in Official Records Book 1280, Page 480, from Carlos Corporation. It describes the land running to the waters of Estero Bay and reserves roadway easements 80 feet and 50 feet wide and a 15-foot utility easement. Those easements, not a plat, are why McLaughlin Boulevard has a recorded width and why utilities run where they do.
The roll and the deed name Carlos Corporation, but no Florida Division of Corporations record for an entity called Carolands exists (search of October 17, 2026). Who first drew the lot plan, and why it was never recorded, is not on any public page we could read; the deed chain in the Clerk's Official Records holds the answer.
An unrecorded subdivision is legal: each parcel is a deeded parcel with its own legal description. The practical effects are on title work and surveys. A title company works from the deed chain and the easement deed, and a surveyor ties the parcel to the section corners rather than to plat monuments. Buyers should expect the title commitment to list the 1978 easements as exceptions.
The roll dates one house to the 1960s, 10 to the 1970s, 17 to the 1980s, 12 to the 1990s, 12 to the 2000s, 8 to the 2010s and 7 to the 2020s. The 1980s were the peak building decade. Since 2010, 15 houses have gone up, and one more new building appears on the 2025 roll with 4,918 square feet of heated area.
Carolands has no homeowners' association, no master association and no recorded declaration of covenants that we could locate on the state corporation record or in the deeds we read. Three bodies shape what an owner can do instead: the City of Bonita Springs, the 1978 deed and its easements, and the state and federal rules for building over the water.
Carolands lies inside the City limits. The City's Land Development Code sets the zoning (RS-1 on 76 parcels, TFC-2 on 4), the setbacks, the height limits, the dock and seawall rules and the floodplain rules, and the City issues the building permits. The City maintains McLaughlin Boulevard on a 50-foot right of way; Carol Court is not on the City's maintained-road list.
The 1978 Carlos Corporation deed's roadway and utility easements bind the parcels. Individual deeds can carry their own restrictions; a title search on the specific parcel is the only way to know.
Docks and seawalls on Estero Bay also touch state sovereign submerged lands and the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, so larger dock projects may need a Florida Department of Environmental Protection authorization in addition to the City permit.
There is no monthly fee, no approval of a buyer or tenant, no architectural review board and no shared amenity. There is also no one to maintain a shared canal, enforce a paint color or carry a common insurance policy. Each owner maintains their own seawall and dock.
The houses in Carolands are large, mostly custom single-family homes on lots of about a quarter acre, with a wide age range: the Lee County roll dates them from 1966 to 2024, records a median of 2,749 square feet of heated area, and shows a pool on most lots and a seawall on 57 of the 80 parcels.
The roll records heated area from 632 to 11,451 square feet, with a median of 2,749. Twenty-nine houses have 3,000 square feet or more, 26 have 2,000 to 2,999, and the rest are smaller, most of them the older canal houses.
Three bedrooms is the most common count on the roll (39 houses), then four (14), two (7) and five (5). Thirty-eight houses are one story and 23 are two stories; the roll records a different count for six.
The roll shows a pool on 59 parcels, a garage on 65 and a seawall on 57. The dock field is filled on only 4 parcels, which undercounts the docks you can see from the water; ask for the dock permit rather than relying on the roll flag.
A 1970s canal ranch can sit next to a 2020s elevated house built to the current flood map. The newer houses are built up to or above the base flood elevation, often with parking and storage below the living floor. The older houses often sit closer to grade, and their lowest floor can be below the base flood elevation, which matters for the flood policy and for any renovation.
No production builder sells in Carolands. New houses are custom or semi-custom builds on lots bought individually or on teardowns. The roll does not name builders; the City permit record does, by address.
Every Carolands parcel is on the water, but the bay front and the canals are different purchases. The 29 bay-front parcels trade open views for a stricter flood zone, and the 51 canal parcels trade the view for protected dockage, a gentler flood zone and most of the neighborhood's building lots.
The 29 bay-front parcels look west over open Estero Bay toward the mangrove islands. They have the long views and the record's highest prices: five of the six county-qualified sales in 60 months were bay-front, including the $7,700,000 sale of November 2024. Most of the bay front sits in the VE flood zone at BFE 12, which brings wave-action construction rules for a new house.
The 51 canal parcels sit on dead-end canals between the streets. They have protected dockage and shorter fetch in a storm, and they sit in the AE zone at BFE 10 or 11 rather than VE. Eleven of the 12 vacant lots are canal lots.
| Item | Bay front | Canal |
|---|---|---|
| Parcels | 29 (28 houses, 1 lot) | 51 (40 houses, 11 lots) |
| Flood zone, most parcels | VE 12 | AE 11 or AE 10 |
| County-qualified sales, 60 months | 5 | 1 |
| Construction rules for a new house | VE: open foundation, breakaway walls below BFE | AE: fill or stem wall allowed, lowest floor at least one foot above BFE under the Florida Building Code |
Carolands is a boating neighborhood first, with water behind every parcel and Estero Bay at the end of every canal. The question for a buyer is not whether a boat can go out, but which way and how big: the three Gulf passes north of the island sit under bridges of very different heights.
All three Gulf passes a Carolands boat uses lie north of the neighborhood. The nearest is Big Hickory Pass, at the north end of Little Hickory Island, where the NOAA Coast Pilot lists the Hickory Boulevard bridge at 10 feet of vertical clearance, so only smaller boats run it. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection adopted an inlet management plan for Big Hickory Pass in June 2026.
Farther north, New Pass (bridge clearance 30 feet in the Coast Pilot) and Big Carlos Pass, under Lee County's new Big Carlos Pass bridge built with 60 feet of vertical clearance, take larger boats to the Gulf. Which pass a boat uses depends on its height, its draft and the tide.
Estero Bay is shallow outside the marked channels. Draft, tide and the route from the canal mouth to the channel decide whether a given boat works from a given dock. Ask the seller for the boat they kept there and run the route at low tide before closing.
The roll undercounts docks. A dock or lift is a structure with its own permit history at the City and, for larger work, the state. Ask for the permits and an inspection of the pilings and the lift.
Carolands has no clubhouse, pool or gate of its own. Its amenities are public: the county's Gulf beaches at either end of Hickory Boulevard, the state park at Lovers Key to the north, Collier County's Barefoot Beach Preserve to the south, and the shops and restaurants of Bonita Springs and Estero on the mainland.
Lee County's Little Hickory Island Beach Park is 0.5 to 1.0 mile from Carolands by road, the nearest public Gulf beach. Lee County Parks report that its parking lot closed on September 8, 2026 for repairs, with pedestrian access open (Lee County Parks notice, read October 17, 2026).
Bonita Beach Park, the county's main beach at the south end of Hickory Boulevard by Bonita Beach Road, is 1.2 to 1.7 miles away; its lot and amenities also closed on September 8, 2026 for Hurricane Ian repairs, and the numbered Bonita Beach accesses remain open.
Barefoot Beach Preserve in Collier County is 3.3 to 3.8 miles south, and Lovers Key State Park is 4.8 to 5.3 miles north over the Big Hickory Pass and New Pass bridges.
The Promenade at Bonita Bay is 5.3 to 5.8 miles by road, and Coconut Point in Estero is 9.0 to 9.5 miles, 16 to 18 minutes at free-flow speed. Fifth Avenue South in Naples is 16.9 to 17.4 miles, 30 to 32 minutes.
With no association fee, the cost of owning in Carolands comes down to three lines: property tax, insurance and the upkeep of the water side of the lot. Each one varies more from house to house than it would in a planned community, so a buyer prices them for the specific house before writing an offer.
Carolands owners pay City of Bonita Springs and Lee County taxes in the taxing district the Property Appraiser lists for the parcel, plus school, water management and fire district levies. The bill on a given house depends on its assessed value and whether it carries a homestead exemption, and the homestead cap (Save Our Homes) means a long-held house can carry a far lower bill than the same house after a sale. Read the parcel's TRIM notice on the Property Appraiser site and ask us to estimate the post-sale bill on the purchase price.
A buyer who makes the house a permanent residence files for homestead with the Lee County Property Appraiser by March 1 of the year after purchase. The assessment resets to just value in the year after a sale, so the seller's bill is not the buyer's.
Every Carolands parcel is in a FEMA special flood hazard area, so a lender requires flood insurance. Under FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 the premium is priced on the building's own features, including its elevation, its replacement cost and its distance to water, and it does not carry over from the seller. Private flood carriers also write in Lee County.
The wind design speed is 170 mph. Insurers price wind on the roof's age and shape, the opening protection and the wind mitigation features, so the wind mitigation inspection report is worth ordering before an offer is final. Citizens Property Insurance requires flood coverage on its wind policies in special flood hazard areas.
With 57 seawalls on the roll and no association, each owner carries the seawall, dock and lift. A seawall cap, a new panel run or a lift motor are the common repairs; a full seawall replacement needs a City permit and, often, a state authorization.
Every Carolands parcel sits in a FEMA special flood hazard area on the current Lee County map, panel 12071C0651G, effective November 17, 2022. The canal parcels are mostly AE at a base flood elevation of 10 or 11 feet, and most of the bay front is VE 12, the coastal high hazard zone where FEMA expects breaking waves.
| Group | Parcels | Zone and base flood elevation |
|---|---|---|
| Bay front | 29 | VE 12 on 19; AE 11 on 8; AE 10 on 2 |
| Canal | 51 | AE 11 on 29; AE 10 on 22 |
We tested all 80 Carolands parcels on October 17, 2026 at the Property Appraiser's parcel centers against FEMA's own National Flood Hazard Layer: AE on 61 (base flood elevation 11 feet on 37 and 10 feet on 24) and VE 12 on 19, every VE parcel on the bay front. FEMA's map-revision (LOMR) and map-amendment (LOMA) layers show no change inside Carolands. A parcel center is a screening point, not a footprint; the elevation certificate settles a specific house.
The VE zone is the coastal high hazard area, where FEMA expects breaking waves. A new or substantially improved house in VE must stand on an open foundation of piles or columns with its lowest horizontal structural member at or above the base flood elevation, and walls below that level must break away. VE flood premiums are higher than AE premiums for comparable buildings.
The USGS 3DEP elevation service read ground elevations of 4.5 to 7.3 feet at sample points across Carolands, below the 10 to 12 foot base flood elevations. Older houses built near grade can have a lowest floor below the base flood elevation; the elevation certificate tells you.
Lee County places Carolands in evacuation Zone A, the first zone ordered out for a storm surge threat. The ASCE wind design speed for the parcels we read is 170 mph.
Hurricane Ian's surge crossed Little Hickory Island in September 2022. In a flood zone, a renovation or repair that costs 50 percent or more of the building's market value is a substantial improvement, and the house must then be brought up to the current flood rules. Ask the seller for any substantial damage letter, the permits pulled after Ian and the elevation certificate.
Carolands is in the Lee County School District's South choice zone, study area 2200. Lee County assigns students through a choice process within the zone, so the school a student attends depends on the application, not only on the address.
| School | Miles by road |
|---|---|
| Bonita Springs Elementary | 6.0 to 6.5 |
| Spring Creek Elementary | 6.5 to 7.0 |
| Bonita Springs Middle | 6.2 to 6.8 |
| Bonita Springs High | 9.4 to 9.9 |
| Estero High | 11.1 to 11.6 |
The district's student assignment office and its online zone lookup confirm the options for an address. Assignments and zones change; confirm before you buy if a school matters to you.
The City of Bonita Springs zones 76 Carolands parcels RS-1, residential single-family, and 4 parcels TFC-2, two-family conservation. Zoning sets what can be built; the FEMA flood map and the Florida Building Code set how it must be built, and on the water the City and the state also regulate docks, lifts and seawalls.
RS-1 allows one single-family house per lot, with the setbacks, height limit and lot coverage the City's Land Development Code sets for the district. Docks, boat lifts and seawalls are accessory uses with their own rules on length, setbacks from the side lot lines and distance into the water.
TFC-2 is the City's two-family conservation district. Check the specific parcel's zoning and the permitted-use table of the City's Land Development Code before planning a duplex.
A new house in Carolands needs a City building permit, a floodplain review to the current FEMA map and the Florida Building Code, and, for work over the water, dock and seawall permits. On a VE bay-front lot, the design is a pile or column foundation; on an AE canal lot, fill, stem walls or piles can work.
The 50 percent rule decides how far a renovation can go before the house must be elevated. The City tracks improvement costs against the building's value; plan a renovation with the cumulative cost in mind.
With no association, no private rule limits rentals in Carolands that we could find in the state corporation record or the deeds we read. The limits that do apply come from the City of Bonita Springs and the State of Florida, which licenses and taxes short stays.
Florida requires a vacation rental license from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants for a house rented more than three times a year for periods under 30 days, and sales and tourist development taxes apply to short stays. The City of Bonita Springs regulates rentals through its code. We do not quote rental income on this page; ask a property manager for a projection on a specific house.
With 45 of 68 houses homesteaded (46 of the 80 parcels, counting one lot the roll still codes vacant), Carolands is mostly owner-occupied. The other 23 houses carry no homestead exemption, which marks second homes and rentals together; the roll does not separate the two.
Daily life in Carolands runs on City and county services and a short drive to the mainland. The county's utility and service layers place every sample point in the same water, sewer, power, trash and fire districts, and the beach, shopping and hospital drives below are routed from both ends of the street.
Bonita Springs Utilities supplies water and sewer, and Florida Power and Light supplies electricity. Waste Management collects trash on Thursday under the City contract.
Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District serves Carolands; Station 27 is the closest station.
LeeTran's ULTRA on-demand service covers the area. Driving times at free-flow speed:
| Destination | Miles | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Little Hickory Island Beach Park | 0.5 to 1.0 | 1 to 3 |
| Bonita Beach Park | 1.2 to 1.7 | 3 to 5 |
| Barefoot Beach Preserve | 3.3 to 3.8 | 11 to 13 |
| Lovers Key State Park | 4.8 to 5.3 | 10 to 12 |
| The Promenade at Bonita Bay | 5.3 to 5.8 | 11 to 13 |
| NCH North Naples Hospital | 8.5 to 9.1 | 15 to 17 |
| Coconut Point | 9.0 to 9.5 | 16 to 18 |
| Fifth Avenue South, Naples | 16.9 to 17.4 | 30 to 32 |
| Southwest Florida International Airport | 23.3 to 23.8 | 34 to 36 |
Season traffic on Bonita Beach Road and Hickory Boulevard adds time from January to April.
Kinleyland is the other bayside canal section of Little Hickory Island, a recorded plat (Plat Book 29, Page 91) on Kings Kew and Queens Kew. Buyers who look at one usually look at the other, and the record shows two different neighborhoods: Carolands is larger, newer on average and more expensive at the top.
| Item | Carolands | Kinleyland |
|---|---|---|
| Parcels | 80 (68 houses, 12 lots) | 30 (27 houses, 3 lots) |
| Recorded plat | No, unrecorded subdivision | Yes, Plat Book 29, Page 91 |
| Streets | McLaughlin Blvd, Carol Ct | Kings Kew, Queens Kew |
| Year built | 1966 to 2024, median 1991 | 1974 to 2019, median 1987 |
| Median heated area | 2,749 sq ft | 2,221 sq ft |
| Seawalls on the roll | 57 | 25 |
| Homesteaded houses | 45 of 68 | 12 of 27 |
| Zoning | RS-1 76, TFC-2 4 | RS-1 30 |
| MLS closings, 60 months to October 27, 2026 | 9, $1,600,000 to $8,650,000 | 6, $1,800,000 to $2,195,000 |
| Vacant lots on the roll | 12 | 3 |
Carolands fits a buyer who wants open bay frontage on one of its 29 bay-front parcels, a larger house (median 2,749 square feet against 2,221), or a building lot, since it has 12 vacant lots to Kinleyland's 3.
Kinleyland fits a buyer who wants a smaller canal house in a recorded plat, at a price range that in the MLS record has stayed near $2 million.
The pros and cons of owning in Carolands come straight from the public record: the water, the lot sizes and the ownership pattern on one side, and the flood zones, the thin sales record and the owner's own seawall and dock upkeep on the other. Weigh both against the house you are considering.
If you're searching for a Carolands listing agent, or thinking, 'I need someone to sell my Carolands home...', McGreevy and Comisar bring the neighborhood's full record to your listing: the county sales, the MLS history, the flood zone of your parcel, and the dock and seawall permits your buyer will ask for.
Listing-agent credentials:
In the 60 months to October 27, 2026 we tracked every Carolands sale in the county and MLS records. The MLS shows nine closings from $1,600,000 to $8,650,000. In the last 12 months we saw one Carolands closing, at $2,862,500 in June 2026, 81.8 percent of its $3,499,000 list price after 79 days, and two active listings, at $3,995,000 and $6,195,000, on October 27, 2026.
Carolands buyers ask about the water first: bay or canal, the flood zone and base flood elevation, the dock, the lift, the seawall and the route to the Gulf. We answer those in the listing file before the first showing. With so few sales, the price rests on a small set of comparables across the island, adjusted for water, elevation and age, and we show the buyer's agent that work.
Request a free home valuation and we will price your house against the recorded Carolands and island sales for its water position and age. You are working with Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008.
Call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072, text or call.
Our three guides to Carolands go deeper on each step: the Carolands seller's guide covers pricing, timing and net proceeds; the Carolands home valuation page explains how we value a Carolands home from recorded sales and the Southwest Florida MLS; and the Carolands buyer's guide covers the buying steps, the documents to read and insurance.
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Your local real estate experts for Carolands are Jesse McGreevy and Marc Comisar, who lead Domain Realty Group from Bonita Springs, a short drive from Little Hickory Island. Jesse leads listings and seller strategy; Marc leads buyer representation and negotiation. The partner who prices your home is the partner at your closing.
Jesse McGreevy lists and sells homes across Bonita Springs, Bonita Beach and Naples. Call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072.
Marc Comisar represents buyers across Southwest Florida. Call Marc at (239) 287-5873.
Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008
5 Star Award for Customer Satisfaction for 21 Straight Years. Only 5 out of 21k+ Licensees (Gulfshore Life Magazine)
#1 Team in Southwest Florida since 2012
McGreevy and Comisar and their Domain Realty Group team have sold over $2.5 Billion in Real Estate
McGreevy and Comisar alone have over $900 million in Sales
Nationally Recognized Top Producing Realtors
Platinum Sales Production Award Winners
Jesse McGreevy: (239) 898-6072 · [email protected]
Marc Comisar: (239) 287-5873
Office: 24031 S Tamiami Trl #101, Bonita Springs, FL 34134
McGreevy and Comisar lead Domain Realty Group, a full-service Southwest Florida real estate team. Learn more about our team at DomainRealtyGroup.com. More about us is on the McGreevy and Comisar about page, and you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Jesse McGreevy (license SL3101296) and Marc Comisar (license BK3060671) are licensed Florida real estate professionals regulated by the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) under Chapter 475, Florida Statutes.
These are the questions Carolands buyers ask, answered from the public records on this page. For your own purchase, call Marc at (239) 287-5873.
Carolands is an unrecorded subdivision of 80 parcels on McLaughlin Blvd and Carol Ct on the bay side of Little Hickory Island, inside the City of Bonita Springs: 68 houses and 12 vacant lots, all on the bay or a canal.
Yes. It is one of the island's nine recorded sections, on the Estero Bay side of Hickory Boulevard.
The City of Bonita Springs. The City zones the parcels, issues the permits and maintains McLaughlin Boulevard.
No association appears on the Florida Division of Corporations record, and we located no recorded declaration of covenants. There is no monthly association fee.
68 single-family houses and 12 vacant lots on the 2026 Lee County roll.
All 80 parcels touch water: 29 face open Estero Bay and 51 sit on canals.
Yes, north through Big Hickory Pass (10-foot bridge clearance), New Pass (30 feet) or Big Carlos Pass (60 feet). The shallow bay limits draft; run the route at low tide before you buy.
AE on the canals (BFE 10 or 11) and mostly VE 12 on the bay front, on FEMA panel 12071C0651G, effective November 17, 2022.
Yes, Lee County evacuation Zone A.
Built 1966 to 2024, median 1991. The 1980s were the busiest decade (17 houses); 15 houses date from 2010 or later.
The roll's median heated area is 2,749 square feet; 29 houses have 3,000 square feet or more.
Carolands is in Lee County's South choice zone, study area 2200. The nearest public schools by road are Bonita Springs Elementary (6.0 to 6.5 miles), Bonita Springs Middle (6.2 to 6.8) and Bonita Springs High (9.4 to 9.9).
Little Hickory Island Beach Park is 0.5 to 1.0 mile by road, 1 to 3 minutes.
No association rule limits rentals that we could find. State vacation rental licensing applies to frequent stays under 30 days, and the City's code applies.
Bonita Springs Utilities provides both; FPL provides electricity.
Yes, under RS-1 (or TFC-2 on four parcels) with a City permit and a floodplain review to the current FEMA map. On a VE bay-front lot the house must stand on piles or columns.
These are the questions Carolands sellers ask us, answered from the county record, the MLS and Florida law. For your own house, call Jesse McGreevy at (239) 898-6072; you are working with Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008.
It depends on bay or canal, the lot, the age and elevation of the house and its condition. The county recorded six qualified Carolands sales in the 60 months to September 25, 2026, from $1,600,000 to $7,700,000. Request a free valuation for your number.
One county-qualified sale in the 12 months to September 25, 2026, and one MLS closing in the 12 months to October 27, 2026, both the June 2026 sale at $2,862,500.
Days on market for the eight MLS closings that report it ran from 8 to 242; the June 2026 closing took 79 days.
The nine MLS closings ranged from 81.8 percent to 100 percent of list price.
$8,650,000 in May 2025 in the MLS, a house of 5,028 square feet; the highest county-qualified sale was $7,700,000 in November 2024.
$1,600,000 in September 2023, a 1980 bay-front house.
On the record, yes: five of the six county-qualified sales in 60 months were bay-front, from $1,600,000 to $7,700,000; the one canal sale was $1,850,000 in March 2022.
On October 27, 2026, two, at $3,995,000 and $6,195,000, with none pending.
The county counted 6 to 8 sales a year from 2018 to 2021 and 0 to 2 a year since. Most owners are full-time residents (45 of 68 homesteaded) and have stayed.
It affects the buyer's insurance cost, which buyers weigh. A current elevation certificate showing the lowest floor above the base flood elevation helps.
Yes, if you do not have one. Buyers and insurers ask for it first.
VE raises the flood premium and the rebuild standard; it is also where the bay views are. We price VE houses against VE sales.
Florida requires a seller to disclose known facts that materially affect value and are not readily observable. Disclose the damage, the repairs and the permits.
A failing seawall is a buyer's first inspection item. Get a marine contractor's report; then decide whether to repair or credit.
Buyers in Carolands expect one. A permitted dock and a working lift remove a reason to discount.
Only if the parcels are separate on the roll. Most houses sit on one deeded parcel.
Sometimes. The county recorded lot sales of $1,100,000 and $1,600,000 in 60 months; compare that with the house's value as it stands.
Whether the house can be renovated without elevating it. Have the City's improvement history for your house ready.
No. Carolands has no association, so there is no estoppel letter or approval to wait for.
In Lee County the seller customarily pays for the owner's title policy; the contract controls.
Not usually. The title commitment lists the 1978 easements; a survey ties the lot to the section corners.
Southwest Florida's seasonal buyers arrive from January to April. We prepare the house, the photos and the documents before then.
Talk to your tax adviser. Your homestead cap does not transfer with the house, but Florida's portability rules can carry part of it to your next Florida homestead.
Yes, subject to the lease; the buyer takes the house subject to it.
Commission, the owner's title policy, documentary stamp tax on the deed (70 cents per $100 of price in Florida) and any repairs or credits.
With the water first: drone and dock photography, the flood and elevation documents, the boating route and the comparable sales, on the MLS and to the buyers we already work with.
Against the Carolands sales, the island's bay and canal sales, and the active listings, adjusted for water, elevation, age and size.
Some do. The November 2024 county record shows a new 2024 house selling at $7,700,000, which is the number a builder works back from.
Bay or canal, flood zone, elevation, the dock and lift, the seawall, and the route to the Gulf.
It does not transfer. The buyer's tax bill resets on the purchase price, and we show buyers an estimate.
The buyer usually orders it. Have your old survey and any elevation certificate ready.
Call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072.
Every fact on this page traces to one of these primary sources, read or queried in October 2026. Southwest Florida MLS figures come from a dated Matrix pull of October 27, 2026, which is login-only and not linked.
| Document | Issuer | What it covers | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 Carlos Corporation deed, OR 1280 PG 480 | Lee County Clerk | Roadway and utility easements behind the Carolands streets | Open the deed image |
| Big Hickory Pass inlet management plan, June 2026 | Florida DEP | The pass at the north end of the island | Open the plan PDF |
| Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve management plan | Florida DEP | The preserve waters off the bay front | Open the plan page |
| 2026 preliminary taxing district millage book | Lee County Property Appraiser | Millage rates by taxing district | Open the millage book |
| Homestead application DR-501 | Florida Department of Revenue | Filing homestead after purchase | Open form DR-501 |
County figures: Lee County recorded sales through September 25, 2026. MLS figures: Southwest Florida MLS (Matrix) pull for ZIP 34134 dated October 27, 2026. McGreevy and Comisar, Best Realtor for Carolands. Brokered by Domain Realty. Jesse McGreevy, FL Lic. SL3101296 · Marc Comisar, FL Lic. BK3060671.
Thinking about buying or selling in Southwest Florida? Tell us what you are trying to do and we will tell you honestly what it will take. McGreevy and Comisar, Domain Realty Group.
