The Forest
Fort Myers, FL · 752 homes · Unincorporated Lee County
zone 1 Surge
zone AE Flood zone
100% of mapped
flood features
An independent resident guide — not affiliated with The Forest HOA, club, or developer.
The Forest at a glance
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.
Trusted contractors for The Forest
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Request help →Ask us to look for a trusted Kitchen & Bath Remodeling contractor. We’ll be honest if we can’t find one, and we won’t share your contact details without asking again after naming the specific business.
Request help →Ask us to look for a trusted Windows & Doors contractor. We’ll be honest if we can’t find one, and we won’t share your contact details without asking again after naming the specific business.
Request help →Ask us to look for a trusted Electrical contractor. We’ll be honest if we can’t find one, and we won’t share your contact details without asking again after naming the specific business.
Request help →Storm & flood
Live status from the National Weather Service and NOAA, each item stamped with the time it was checked; anything past its freshness window is removed rather than shown as current. In an approaching storm, rely on official channels first: Lee County Emergency Management ↗.
This is county map data with a retrieval date — not a flood determination for insurance or lending purposes. Confirm your parcel with the official county lookup or your insurer.
Home & property numbers
53 sales · FL DOR codes 01–02 · retrieved Aug 21 2026
Recorded prices, not an appraisal — and not a valuation of any one home.
Typical build years (5th–95th pct) · Property Appraiser · Aug 21 2026
A typical build-era band — the 5th–95th percentile of parcel build years, so a stray older or newer parcel doesn't widen it. It says nothing about how many homes went up when.
2020–2024 ACS 5-year · B19013 · retrieved Aug 4 2026 · 2 tracts
Census tracts cover an area wider than the community’s own boundary.
What it costs to live here
A worked annual example — the shape of a bill here, not a quote for any home.
Worked example — 13.2715 mills (the district most parcels are in) on a $375,000 rounded assessed value before exemptions (from the community’s average just value). Your own bill moves with exemptions and assessment caps.
No CDD; other non-ad-valorem items on the sampled 2025 bill total $18.31.
The Forest does not publish a fee schedule. Confirm the current amount with the HOA office before you close.
Millage Book 2025 · sampled 2025 bill
Association fees are not published here, so they are absent from this bar rather than estimated into it. Varies by lot and home; never a quote.
County roll math, one sampled tax bill and each association’s own published figures — we publish fee amounts only from official documents; amounts change annually and vary by home and exemptions. Never a quote, never tax advice.
Golf & recreation
Golf is next door — The Forest Country Club sits 0.2 miles from the community's center, and two more clubs sit within 1.5 miles.
Straight-line distances from the community center · checked Aug 2026.
Dining nearby
Nearest 8 licensed establishments · within 5 miDinner without the drive — the closest kitchens to the gate, nearest first.
From Florida food-service license records · straight-line distances · checked Aug 2026.
Local essentials
Nearest schools by distance — never an attendance-zone assignment. Official school finder ↗
Public, open ramps only.
Straight-line distances on a six-mile scale — › means a bit further out.
What's on nearby
Utilities & providers
Territory read at the community centroid — not a per-parcel guarantee.
Reported at a sampled in-community address — availability varies parcel to parcel.
Service-territory map data (checked Aug 2026) — the provider serving the area, not a guarantee of connection for any individual parcel. Confirm service and rates with the provider before relying on them.
Dates that matter in Lee County
You must own and occupy the home as your permanent residence as of January 1 to claim it for that tax year; buy after January 1 and you file for the following year.
Property Appraiser ↗The proposed-tax notice from the Property Appraiser; not a bill. You then have 25 days from its mailing date to petition the Value Adjustment Board.
FL Dept. of Revenue ↗Early-payment discounts: 4% in November, 3% December, 2% January, 1% February; a deadline landing on a weekend or holiday extends to the next business day.
Tax Collector ↗The Atlantic season per the National Hurricane Center; storms can occur outside these dates.
National Hurricane Center ↗County and state dates — the same for every Lee County community, each linked to its official source (checked Aug 2026).
Just moved here? Start with these
The six things worth doing in your first week, in the order they matter.
Every link goes to the official government source (checked Aug 2026).
HOA & community contacts
Southwest Florida Gated Communities is not affiliated with The Forest homeowners’ association or club. Something out of date? Report a correction →