The village will feature a condo/hotel, plus several shops and restaurants for those who live at the development and those who wish to visit the entertainment area.

Despite all of the bad news about the slumping housing market, Bob Hensley said he remains confident that it will rebound by the time Marina Village, a $150 million mixed-use project at Tarpon Point Marina, is complete in 28 months.

“I’ve been called crazy before,” said Hensley, the chief executive officer of Grosse Point Development, which is building the 184-room, resort-style condo and hotel. “I think we’re near the bottom of a business cycle and heading up.”

The hotel-condo project is the centerpiece of what will be an area full of shops and restaurants open to the public.

Construction started about a month ago, but the developer held a ceremonious groundbreaking Wednesday morning with local business leaders and dignitaries.

Cape Coral Mayor Eric Feichthaler, who spoke at the ceremony, said when he and his wife, Mary, drove into Tarpon Point, she had mentioned it was like they were leaving Cape Coral.

“I hope to make the whole city look like this,” Feichthaler said.

Hensley said 75 of the 184 rooms were under contract and rooms would begin to be sold on the open market sometime around February.

He said a fractional ownership option was added to the project to open up the market to more buyers.

With a price range from about $700,000 to $1.5 million, the property isn’t as affected by a sluggish housing market, said Nick Cross, director of sales and marketing.

Cross said properties below $500,000 are more affected.

“Out here, waterfront property at a residential community like this, we have the buyers I call the ‘want to’ buyers,” Cross said. “They don’t need it, but they see something they like and they want to buy it.”

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