About The Forest
The Forest is a gated community of 752 homes in Fort Myers. Day to day, the nearest golf course, The Forest Country Club, is about 0.2 miles straight-line from the community's center; the nearest library, Lakes Regional Library, is about 3.2 miles away; the nearest hospital, HealthPark Medical Center, about 2.9 miles.
Amenities — amenities compiled from The Forest Country Club and Fort Myers market materials (confirm current amenities and membership terms with the club); The Forest is a golf community with OPTIONAL club membership (not bundled) — include a gated entry set within a large nature preserve (~600+ acres), The Forest Country Club — two 18-hole championship golf courses (the Bear and the Bobcat), with membership OPTIONAL, not bundled, a clubhouse with dining, tennis, pickleball and bocce courts, a community pool and social calendar.
On paper, the community sits in evacuation zone A. The average assessed just value across its 824 residential parcels was $372,779 in the county's 2026 roll.
The first thing to understand about The Forest is how its golf is structured, because it runs opposite to much of the Fort Myers market. Many area communities bundle club membership into the home, so every owner pays for the course whether or not they play. The Forest does not: The Forest Country Club and its two 18-hole championship courses — the Bear and the Bobcat — are an optional, separate membership, not tied to owning a home. That cuts both ways. Buyers who want to golf choose their category and dues directly with the club; buyers who don't aren't underwriting a course they'll never use. Either way, confirm current membership categories with the club, because that structure is the single thing a prospective owner should weigh first.
The cost structure reinforces the point. The Forest dates to 1979 — before community development districts were common — so it carries no CDD. On a sampled 2025 tax bill from an in-community parcel, the only non-ad-valorem line was a Lee County Solid Waste assessment of $18.31, not a multi-thousand-dollar CDD charge. It also helps to know how the community is assembled: it's a single gated master set within a roughly 600-plus-acre nature preserve, but the homes sit in many small villages — Fairway Woods, Sparrowood, Quail Cove, Eagles Landing and others — under one association, The Forest Country Club, Inc. (administered as the Forest Owners Association). Public records name no single homebuilder; the roughly 752 residences mapped here, split between single-family homes and condos, villas and carriage homes, were largely built between 1981 and 2000.
A few practical notes: this is Evacuation Zone A with AE flood mapping, so check the current zone and insurance early, and wired internet runs to Hotwire fiber and Xfinity cable. This page is an independent, records-based starting point — not affiliated with the HOA, club, or developer — so confirm current terms, dues and rules with the association.
HOA & community contacts
Southwest Florida Gated Communities is not affiliated with The Forest homeowners’ association or club. Something out of date? Report a correction →
