"ANY PAYMENT IN EXCESS OF 10 PERCENT OF THE PURCHASE PRICE MADE TO DEVELOPER PRIOR TO CLOSING PURSUANT TO THIS CONTRACT MAY BE USED FOR CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES BY THE DEVELOPER."
Section 718.202 of the Florida Statutes requires that sentence to be printed in bold type on the first page of a pre-construction condo contract, directly above the buyer's signature, whenever the developer reserves the right to spend deposit money above the 10% mark. On Gulf Shore Boulevard, where new residences are priced from the low eight figures up to $45 million, 10% of the price is a large sum. Every dollar above it may be paying for the concrete.
That changes what the buyer is. Below the 10% line, the money is a protected escrow deposit. Above it, the buyer may be supplying early capital to the project. That capital is committed against a delivery date that has moved on more than one tower along this stretch in the past year.
Two Escrow Accounts, Two Different Levels of Protection
Section 718.202 of the Florida Statutes splits a pre-construction deposit into two parts. Until construction is substantially complete, the first 10% of the sale price has to sit with an escrow agent, and the buyer can request a receipt. If the developer releases those initial deposits, the total released must be covered by a surety bond or an irrevocable letter of credit for the same amount. If the buyer properly terminates the contract, that money comes back with any interest earned. If the buyer defaults, it goes to the developer.
Anything above 10% goes into a separate special escrow account. It stays there until closing, with two exceptions: a refund to the buyer, or a contract that allows the developer to withdraw it once construction has begun. Withdrawn funds can pay only for the "actual costs" of building and developing the condominium. The statute lists examples such as demolition, site clearing, permit and impact fees, and architectural and engineering fees. It specifically excludes sales commissions, marketing, loan fees and interest, attorney and accounting fees, and insurance. The Legislature clarified the "actual costs" language in 2024. A 2025 amendment then limited that clarification to condominiums whose declarations were first recorded on or after October 1, 2024.
The statute also defines "completion of construction" as a certificate of occupancy for the entire building. So the protection on the first 10% lasts until the city signs off on the whole building, while the money above 10% can start working as soon as construction begins.
The Delivery Date Is a Forecast, and on This Corridor It Has Moved
When a buyer's money is in the construction budget, time works against the buyer. The money stays committed for longer, and the buyer has more months of exposure to whatever happens to the developer, the lender or the market before closing. The public record for three of the corridor's flagship projects shows how much the schedules have shifted:
Project | Earlier reported schedule | Latest reported status |
|---|---|---|
Olana Naples Residences, 1121 Gulf Shore Blvd. N. | Completion "late next year," meaning 2027, per Business Observer, February 2026 | Groundbreaking expected fall 2026; completion targeted by 2028, per September 2026 reporting |
3300 Gulf Shore | Construction start October 2025, completion late 2027, per Kolter, May 2025 | Officially broke ground February 2026 |
Rosewood Residences Naples, 1601 Gulf Shore Blvd. | Topped off August 1, 2025, with late-2026 completion targeted | No delivery report located as of September 30, 2026 |
None of this points to trouble at any of these projects. Ground-up luxury construction moves on permitting, financing and contractor schedules, and dates slip as a normal result. It does mean the dates in a sales presentation are estimates. The date that legally matters is the one written into the contract, along with what the contract lets the developer do about it.
Strong demand doesn't change the timeline issue either. Three of the five penthouses at 3300 Gulf Shore sold for more than $40 million combined before the project broke ground. The first residence closed at Naples Beach Club in June 2026 for more than $20 million, months after the Four Seasons resort there opened in November 2025. Buyers are willing to commit early on this corridor. Their exposure grows with each month before closing.
Where a Buyer Stands Next to the Construction Lender
Olana shows how the financing fits together. The Kolter Urban and BH Group project will have 12 residences of about 10,000 square feet each, priced from $32 million. On September 10, 2026, the developers announced a $197 million construction loan from Apollo Global Management and affiliates of BDT & MSD Partners. That is the standard setup for a project like this: senior debt from institutional lenders, with buyer deposits alongside it.
In the Laketown Wharf case, a Destin developer collected deposits split into two accounts. One held the initial 10%, and the other held the "Special Deposits" above it. Each contract carried the construction-use legend. Laketown Wharf's version added that the buyer would have no right to place liens on the developer's property over those funds. The contracts also made the buyers' rights subordinate to any acquisition, development or construction mortgage. The developer then took a construction loan from Corus with a maximum principal of $146.3 million, secured by a first mortgage.
By the time buyers sent cancellation notices in 2007 and 2008, the developer had spent substantially all of the special deposits on construction and had defaulted on the Corus loan. In June 2010, the bankruptcy court ruled that the original buyers were entitled to an equitable vendee's lien, a claim against the property for the money they had paid in. It also ruled that the lien was subordinate to the lender's mortgage.
Laketown Wharf was a single bankruptcy order on the Panhandle in a severe downturn. It doesn't predict what will happen with any Naples project.
The Completion Promise Decides What a Delay Costs You
When delivery slips, the question is whether the buyer can do anything about it, and that depends on how the contract words the completion date. Federal law has long given condo developers a way out of registration under the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act if they promised to finish within two years of the buyer signing. Florida Bar Journal commentary explains that the promise has to be binding. A projected date doesn't count, and neither does a buyer's purchase obligation that simply depends on timely completion. Under Florida case law, the buyer generally also needs to be able to seek damages or specific performance, not only a refund of the deposit. In the 2009 Stein decision, the Eleventh Circuit found that keeping specific performance and actual damages could be enough even when other damages were waived, and it rejected the buyers' attempt to rescind under the act.
The Florida Bar Journal explains that a separate condominium-unit exemption has been available under its own conditions since March 26, 2015. Today's Naples contracts may not rely on the two-year route at all. In practice, a missed delivery date doesn't automatically entitle a buyer to a refund. The outcome depends on the completion language, the allowed extensions and the remedies in that particular contract.
What to Read Before the 15 Days Run Out
Florida Statutes section 718.503 gives buyers of new condominium units from a developer 15 days after both signing and receiving the required documents to cancel in writing. If the developer later makes a material amendment that adversely affects the buyer, a new 15-day window opens, and any clause waiving these rights is ineffective. For contracts signed after December 31, 2024, the disclosure package also has to cover milestone inspections, turnover reports and structural-integrity reserve studies where they apply, and that carries its own voidability rights.
Those 15 days are the period when a buyer still has full leverage. On this corridor, these are the items to review in that window:
- The page-one legend. If it's there, assume every dollar above 10% can go into the construction budget once work begins.
- The deposit schedule against construction milestones. Payments due at or after groundbreaking go straight into money the developer is allowed to spend.
- The completion clause. Look for a firm date or a stated estimate, and check how far force majeure and other extensions can push it.
- The buyer's remedies. Find out whether a missed date leads to specific performance, damages, or only a refund of the escrowed 10%.
- Subordination and lien language. Check whether the buyer agrees in advance to rank behind any construction mortgage, and whether lien rights are waived.
- The escrow agent. The contract has to name the agent, and the buyer can ask for a deposit receipt.
None of this is legal advice. Every contract is different, and a Florida real estate attorney should read the one you are about to sign. The statute, the case record and the timelines along Gulf Shore Boulevard all lead to the same point: on a $12 million or $32 million commitment, the terms covering money above 10% and the completion date decide how much risk the buyer is carrying.
If you are deciding on a residence at Olana, 3300 Gulf Shore, Rosewood or another project on the new Gulf Shore row, Amanda Van Slyke can go through the deposit schedule, the completion language and the project's public record with you and your counsel before your rescission window closes. Request a Private Market Update.
