The Cape Coral Construction Industry Association Builder’s Showcase Best in Show home located on Southeast 27th Street is among the homes open on the model home tour that opens today. For a complete list of winners, see today’s Breeze Real Estate section, page 2C.

By MATT BLUMENFELD. mblumenfeld@breezenewspapers.com



The Cape Coral Construction Industry Association’s annual Builder’s Showcase opens this weekend.



Executive Director Patti Schnell told representatives of the 11 builders in this year’s showcase that they pulled back on the pageantry of Thursday’s night’s awards ceremony to concentrate their efforts on “generating foot traffic” at the 18 homes on this year’s tour.



The nine-day home showcase starts today and runs through Feb. 17. The homes will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon to 5 each Sunday.



A tour map and the CCCIA Showcase magazine is available at all Riverside Bank locations.



“We’re hoping for the masses, but we’ll be happy with anyone who is interested what is new in construction,” the association’s marketing and membership director, Tracy Wilson last week.



The showcase is the group’s only annual consumer-driven effort as it usually focuses on the builder’s side of the business. Four custom Cape homes will be on display, with no admission charge during the tour. Wilson said that opportunities to check out that type of residential construction are rare.



“You can go in and see custom construction and get a flavor for that. You can’t normally go to see those homes without an appointment with the builder.”



CCCIA representatives judged each home in the showcase over the last two weeks, with Ralph and Cathy Sangiovanni’s home in the southeastern part of the city taking home Best in Show honors. The couple designed their home from the ground up after Hurricane Charley damaged it and had Alvian Homes take care of the rest.



“We wanted a true Mediterranean flavor because that seems to be the trend to what a lot of the homes (in Southwest Florida) are going for,” said Mr. Sangiovanni at Thursday’s awards dinner.



Meanwhile, a second tour directed at upscale buyers also is under way in Lee County with two residences in Cape Coral.



The fourth annual Southwest Florida Luxury Home Tour kicked off on Feb. 1 and, in a press release Friday, its spokeswoman, Brianne Bauer, said that the tour saw a “record number of visits” last weekend.



Bauer credited the tour’s popularity to the homes’ eye-catching designs both inside and out.



“Visitors feast their eyes on the very latest in high-end residential architecture, craftsmanship and interior design,” she said. “Whether they are considering building a new home or contemplating an upgrade to their existing one, Luxury Home Tour supplies the inspiration.”



More than a dozen builders across Lee and Collier counties, including two in Cape Coral, will show off their luxury homes for the tour, which is billed as the biggest ever.



Builder Gary Aubuchon, who is displaying a Cape Coral home this month, said that the admission charge and high profile across the county are chief reasons for the tour attracting more builders and prospective buyers.



The price tags for the 25 homes on the tour start at $1.5 million and run all the way up to $4.5 million. Even with today’s economy, Aubuchon is certain that, as in past years, many more people will take a look at the best of the best in southwest Florida.



“I think the tour is going to be fantastic; it has been for the last several years, and it really seems to bring out a wide variety of both interested and curious clients.”



Those who will consider opening their checkbooks for one of those homes have clearly not been hit as hard by the economic downturn. Aubuchon said that both clients and builders in the high-end game are relatively unhurt by property value swings.



“The luxury market certainly is more insulated as luxury buyers have widely diversified asset portfolios,” he said. “The impact on foreclosures is not on the luxury side of the marketplace.”



Grosse Pointe Development, which won an award for its high -end construction on Thursday, is displaying a Tarpon Point residence in the luxury home tour as well.