Just as development started heating up along Treeline Avenue, between Daniels Parkway and Colonial Boulevard, the real estate market began to falter, causing activity to cool.

But the downturn hasn't diminished the faith of developers, businesses and government officials that big things are in store for that Fort Myers segment of the north-south corridor.

Close proximity to Southwest Florida International Airport, Interstate 75 and a host of major shopping areas are some of the qualities they cite in predicting a bright future for development near the roadway. 

The road opened last July, about 15 months after the segment that runs south from Daniels past the airport to Alico Road in San Carlos Park. The combined roadway provides a valuable alternate, north-south route linking Colonial to Corkscrew Road in Estero, easing the burdens on I-75 and U.S. 41.  The Colonial-to-Daniels section is also a main access point for several major residential and commercial developments that were under construction before the roadway's completion.

Among them are Pelican Preserve, the Colonial Country Club and Plantation communities, and Airport Woods Commerce Center.  Other developments were contemplated or in the planning stages when the real estate bubble burst in late 2005, slowing or halting further expansion there.  Upwards of 8,100 homes are planned for several upscale, gated communities there, but only a small portion of them have been built thus far.

Sales aren't approaching real estate boom levels, but deals are being made at the developments along the roadway, with two of the newer ones - The Plantation and Botanica Lakes, where homes started rising in early 2006 - serving as a case in point.

Roughly 300 homes have been sold at Botanica Lakes. The completion of a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse and outdoor recreation area earlier this year illustrates the developer's faith in the community, according to Patty Campbell, president of Sunrise-based GL Homes' Southwest Florida Division. 

"We still continue to invest in the area and the community because builders that have problems are in C and D locations," she said. "This is an A+ location. There is no better location than Treeline Avenue."  She pointed to Treeline's status as one of Lee County's few north-south corridors, easy access to the newly opened Forum shopping area off Colonial, and Gulf Coast Town Center in San Carlos Park as key reasons for that opinion. 

Treeline's traffic count - 7,100 vehicles a day southbound from Colonial and 5,100 northbound from Daniels in 2007 - has meant high visibility and curious home shoppers at The Plantation, said Rick Canale, West Coast marketing manager for its developer, Centex Homes of Southwest Florida.

Since the first closing in December 2006, 148 homes have been sold, including 124 thus far this year at The Plantation, where the homes are split between the Bridgetown section and the Somerset golfing community.  The area's appeal is heightened by two factors: most buildings are less than three years old and that section of Treeline is not on the airport flight path, he said. 

Growth along Treeline can also be measured in public services. Treeline Elementary School welcomed its first students this school year and the Fort Myers Fire Department has a station nearby.  Botanica Lakes, The Plantation and a 260-acre parcel owned by Stock Development, were once part of a 2,500-acre spread known as Arborwood. The tract was annexed into the city of Fort Myers in 2003, following the same path as the more established Colonial Country Club and Pelican Preserve.

Arborwood's owner, the Worthington Group, also sold 25 acres fronting on Daniels to the Courtelis Co. Fifth Third and Wachovia bank branches occupy part of the property, and Miami-based Courtelis plans to add a multi-building retail-office center, with restaurants and a hotel to the mix. 

Work should be completed by Oct. 1 on Phase I of Arborgate Center, a retail plaza near Colonial. Ohio-based Timberstone Group purchased the development in February from HIW Development Co. for $9.3 million. Timberstone also owns the Palm Pointe Shoppes plaza on U.S. 41, near Beacon Manor Drive in Fort Myers.

The roughly 30,000-square-foot first phase may eventually grow to become an 80,000-square-foot plaza, with market demand driving that expansion, said Matt Yaniglos, Timberstone's vice president of development. He said the many rooftops near Treeline and the promise of many more buttress that belief.  "We like the long-term potential for its location," he added. "It's a high traffic-count road at Colonial. And that size is really our cup of tea. It's what we're comfortable with. It fit well in our plan, at the time."

The development that's occurred, to this point, along Treeline's northern portion is indeed welcomed by the city of Fort Myers.  "All this is great for the city's tax base. It's been a long time coming in that area, but we're very pleased with it and the quality of development," said Maureen Lund, the city's manager of development of services.

Norm Bloxham's faith in the future along Treeline led him, along with partner John Cole, to build 20,000-square-foot Treeline Plaza at Airport Woods in 2004, when the roadway dead-ended near the development and Bavaria Road. 

The office park is home to 10 businesses, including those of Bloxham and Cole: Bloxham Homes and BHI Construction, and Cole Air Diagnostics.  Bloxham's business was based in Alva and Cole's off Metro Parkway, prior to the move.  "We had pretty much all of Fort Myers to build our place," Bloxham said. "We thought that with Treeline being a hub and this close to the airport, this would be a great place to be." 

Mark Harden located offices for his three companies: Treeline Realty, Rialto Construction, Door to Door property and Harden Homes, at Treeline Plaza three years ago, moving from Lehigh Acres.  "It has really impacted our ability to move from our office to Colonial and south to the Alico corridor," he said. "It links everything together very nicely." 

Further commercial development is sure to come, but its arrival will be pinned to further residential growth, nearby, according to Gary Tasman, executive director of commercial Realtor Cushman & Wakefield's Southwest Florida office. "I do think you'll have some smart office and retail. I just don't think it will happen any time soon," he said.