The largest island of the Ten Thousand Islands is just a stone’s throw from Naples. Because it doesn’t seem to create the splash that its neighbor 25 miles to the north does, outsiders think it’s a diamond in the rough. Marco Island residents, however, say their resort town is one of the finest jewels in Southwest Florida.

Its sparkle certainly hasn’t escaped developers, but it’s the type of growth — decidedly upscale — that is impressive. The median home value on Marco is $301,089, according to the 2000 census. In 1997, the Collier County Property Appraiser’s office showed the average value of a single-family home at $177,291. The year-round population of the island is just over 15,000, but swells to 35,000 to 40,000 during the winter season, says Sandi Riedemann, executive director of the Marco Island Chamber of Commerce. There are 7,134 households, and the average household income is $126,940.

"I think it’s going in the right direction,” Riedemann says. “Marco Island’s a wonderful community in which to live, work and raise a family because of the quality of life here.”

A vacant waterfront lot in Hideaway, one of the island’s two gated communities, sold for $2.3 million in February, breaking the record for the most expensive single-family sell on the island, says Jim Prange, a Realtor with Premier Properties. “It’s incredible what’s happening here,” he says.

Cornerstone Developers Inc., which has been building homes on the island for five years, won the first Sand Dollar Award for a project on Marco Island from the Collier Building Industry Association for its Athenian model, which sold about two years ago for more than $2 million.

When Prange moved to Marco in 1980, canal lots could be purchased for $18,000; today, the same lots are going for $250,000 and up. Last year, two single-family homes topped island real estate records when they sold for $7.5 million each, while penthouses at WCI’s Cape Marco are being offered in the $10 million range, says George Percel, executive director of the Marco Island Area Association of Realtors.

All the numbers point to an enclave that’s becoming defined by luxury, offering million-dollar homes with shimmering views of the Gulf of Mexico and an unequalled fishing and boating lifestyle. “Marco Island is on the move where Naples left off,” says Leslie Christian, an interior designer for Holland Salley, who has been working with clients on Marco for seven years. “Bigger is better, and quality is more and more important.”