4 Florida Communities Built Hurricane-Proof Homes—and Put Them to the Test

Communities throughout Florida have taken hurricane-proofing their homes to a new level. Several towns have built homes with the sole purpose of withstanding hurricanes—and it appears to be working.

Christy Ferrari had only been on the Gulf Coast for few months when Hurricane Ian hit in September 2022.

Luckily, she had just bought a two-bedroom with den condo in the "eco-friendly" community of Babcock Ranch.

"Maybe a few trees were uprooted and a couple of street signs were blown over, just because they were newly planted," Ferrari tells Realtor.com®, of the slight damage she saw after emerging from her home when the monster storm had passed.

Babcock Ranch

Babcock Ranch was created by former professional football player Syd Kitson and Kitson & Partners in 2006. It took more than 10 years before its first residents moved into the community—designed for 20,000 residences and 60,000 people and includes 6 million square feet of commercial space. The homes range from upper-$200,000s to $4 million, with well-known builders like D.R. Horton and Lennar.

The community is also known for being "America's first solar-powered town." The 18,000-acre planned community, outside of Fort Myers, soon became known as the neighborhood that emerged unscathed despite a direct hit from Ian.

The focus of a 60 Minutes segment, the publicity created a demand for homes that hasn't abated in the community—even as sales in surrounding areas have ground to a halt.

The community not only runs on 687,000 solar panels but has a unique storm-water drainage control system that allows flood waters to be moved through the roads without ever touching the houses.

"The water never gets up to house level," says Benjamin Board, who, along with Ferrari, works at Nicklaus Vance, where they specialize in selling Babcock Ranch real estate. "All the homes are built above the flood plain. When they were building the community, hurricanes were the No. 1 thing they wanted to make sure it could withstand."

The masterplanned community, which currently has approximately 12,500 residents, is ranked No. 7 in fastest-selling MPCs, according to consulting firm RCLCO, up from No. 12 in 2024.

"Babcock is still selling where most of the neighboring communities are having problems," says Board. "People are trying to leave those to move here."

Meanwhile, condo prices in much of Florida are sinking. In August 2025, the median sale price for a Florida condo was $285,000, down 8.1% from a year earlier and 14% below the July 2023 peak, according to Realtor.com research.

This marks the largest August year over year decline since 2010, according to a Realtor.com analysis of deed records.

The 60 Minutes segment that touted the development's shrug in the face of Ian's 150 mph winds acted as a strong marketing tool.

"During Ian, we never even had the lights flicker," says Board.

While the community mostly runs on solar power, it is backed up by battery power, and it pulls from the grid when needed.

"Every time we have a hurricane, we have an influx of buyers," he says.

One of those buyers was Barbara Seizert. This year, she and her husband snapped up a $400,000 two-bedroom coach house in Babcock Ranch.

"We wanted out of Florida," she tells Realtor.com, about the days after Ian hit their neighborhood. "Where we were [Fort Myers] was wrecked."

After living in the mountains of South Carolina proved too cold for them, the couple returned to the state, this time to "hurricane-proof" Babcock Ranch.

While the community's strong focus on wellness, bicycle-friendly and walkable design, golf, and abundant nature trails and preserves were the big attractions, Seizert says the pair wouldn't have returned to Florida unless they could live in a place more protected from hurricanes.

Hunters Point

Since opening in 2022, the Hunters Point development in Cortez has stared down four large hurricanes: Hurricane Ian (Sept. 2022), Hurricane Idalia (August 2023), Hurricane Helene (Sept. 2024), and Hurricane Milton (Oct. 2024).

"The only thing that got really damaged is our coconut trees," Marshall Gobuty, founder and president of builder Pearl Homes, tells Realtor.com, of the community after Milton tore through it.

Squeezed between Sarasota Bay and Palma Sola Bay just off Anna Maria Island, this is another community that touts its sustainability, offering "world-class homes with almost zero waste and minimal impact on our environment."

The 86-home community was recently featured on CNN's "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" as an example of a community built to withstand the "climate crisis."

During Hurricane Helene, while surrounding areas lost power and the streets were knee-deep with water, Hunters Point homes remained cozy and dry.

"Hurricanes were our No. 1 priority,” Gobuty told Fast Company. "How could we build to survive a Cat 5 hurricane?"

The answer was homes made from solid concrete with steel straps connecting each floor, and roofs made of steel with vertical beams among other "hurricane-proof" engineering features.

The development also runs on solar power, with battery backup. Even if the sun doesn't appear for 10 days (as might happen in a hurricane), the power stays on.

The community was also built on 16-foot manmade elevation to bring it out of the flood plain. There's also a retention system that fills up a pond with overflow, diverting it from homes.

"Climate change is here," Gobuty told the outlet. "And we have to adapt."

And it doesn't come cheap. A three-bedroom, three-level house in Hunters Point is listed for $1.67 million, which is above the October 2025 median list price in Cortez of $1.59 million, according to Realtor.com data.

Las Olas Isles

The Las Olas Isles neighborhood near Fort Lauderdale braced when Hurricane Helene blasted through, but the community kept the lights on while at least 25,000 homes around it lost power.

This was thanks to a resident-led effort to remove all of the utility poles and power lines and have them put underground. The project took 12 years to complete, resident Tom Godart told CBS News.

"The idea was just to harden our, you know, our utilities so that, you know, in case of a storm, we weren't without power. We weren't without Comcast, we weren't without communication," he told the outlet.

In order to get the plan going, 90% of residents had to get on board, with a cost of about $1,700 per year, per household over 30 years.

Chances are, the residents could afford it. Homes on the isle aren't cheap. The median list price on Las Olas Isles is $7.2 million, compared to Ft. Lauderdale's median list price of $636,500, according to Realtor.com data.

Keep in mind that there's only so much buried power lines can do. The small island is surrounded by water, so it has a severe chance of flooding.

Medley Club

Medley Club at Southshore Bay, a 55+ community in Wimauma, a suburb of Tampa, breezed through Hurricane Ian just fine.

While almost 3 million people across the Sunshine State lost power during that storm, the 37 homes here never dimmed thanks to a microgrid system powered by a network of solar panels and batteries.

"I’m very grateful. We felt really safe and had full power," resident Tamara Brandt told The Tampa Bay Times.

The system is part of a Tampa Electric Co. four-year pilot program that is evaluating whether to expand into other areas.

While the community boasts a 5-acre lagoon pool with water activities, swim up bar, beach entrance, and splash pad, homes stayed toasty dry during the raging storm.

And homes can be had for below Wimauma's median list price of $384,473. A two-bedroom, 2.5 bath in the "hurricane-proof" community is currently under contract with an ask of $347,500.