Port Bougainville

By the early 1970s, unregulated dredging and filling threatened to transform the Florida Keys into a “concrete jungle.” To address this lack of local control, the state stepped in on April 15, 1975, naming the archipelago an Area of Critical State Concern to strictly manage future growth.

The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) released a massive 300-page consultant report in 1982, titled the “Impact Analysis of Florida Keys Critical Area Designation.” However, the document offered little new insight, and in a repeat of the region’s historical disregard for federal rules during the 1930s, the Keys chose to ignore it.

By 1983, the DCA threatened a state takeover of all new development and began drafting a management plan. Monroe County countered, arguing that the state had failed to provide the funding required to develop an accurate land-use map. While the two sides eventually moved toward a compromise, their efforts lagged behind reality; by 1984, at least 51 new developments were already underway without formal approval. During this time, the Miami Herald published a series of exposés on the region’s explosive growth, estimating that North Key Largo alone was on track to house between 25,000 and 45,000 residents.

While many of these historical ventures have faded into obscurity, the most prominent among them was the North Key Largo Yacht Club, later known as Solarelle. Because it was approved in 1974, prior to the Florida Keys being designated an Area of Critical State Concern, the development held significant vested rights.

In 1980, the property was acquired by Miami real estate developer Fritz E. Scharenberg, who reimagined it as the massive Port Bougainville development. Scharenburg was responsible for several projects on Key Biscayne, including the development of the Key Colony condominium development. Port Bougainville was slated to include approximately 2,800 Mediterranean-style condominiums and townhouses, as well as hotels, cafes, shops, a marina, and a “medieval town hall” and chapel.

To finance the project, approximately 150 units were presold to private investors, and a $40.5 million loan was obtained from the Continental Illinois Bank in Chicago. Starting in December 1982, Scharenberg secured seven extensions on the development loan. Although no payments were ever made, the bank remarkably issued an additional $13.5 million, increasing its total to $54 million.

Since its start, Port Bougainville had been mired in controversy, mainly among environmentalists who feared the immense damage the development would cause to an already fragile ecosystem.

Unlike Key Colony, though, the Port Bougainville development floundered in 1984 when Continental Illinois was in such financial trouble that it required a

Today, portions of North Key Largo are being purchased for conservation by the government. Only remnants of the past projects in the area remain, a handful of buildings left behind for nature to sort out.