Babcock Ranch featured in Forbes for disaster-resilient design

Forbes highlights Babcock Ranch as a national model for climate-resilient community planning, showcasing how thoughtful design can enhance both safety and wellness. The story features the town’s elevated location, innovative stormwater management, underground utilities and resilient infrastructure, which helped Babcock Ranch withstand major hurricanes while maintaining power, internet and water service. Read the full story […]

Florida Town Gives New Residents Free Golf Carts to Replace Their Cars – StreetBlog.org

Babcock Ranch is featured in Streetsblog for its innovative, golf cart-friendly design that encourages residents to leave their cars behind. The story highlights how the town’s connected trail network, 25 mph speed limits, and walkable layout make golf carts a practical choice for everyday trips, helping improve safety, support sustainability and reduce transportation costs—all while […]

Syd Kitson: 2025 Legends Award Winner

Syd Kitson, founder of Babcock Ranch, has been awarded the 2025 Legends Award by Zonda Home’s Builder Magazine. The Legends Award recognizes exceptional leaders and teams who have made groundbreaking contributions to future-proofing master-planned communities. Honored for his visionary work in creating America’s solar-powered town that has become a national model for storm resilience, this […]

Featured in National Association of Realtors® Housing Resilience: Challenges and Best Practices

Babcock Ranch was featured this National Association of Realtors® (NAR) On Common Ground article highlighting the importance of smart growth, resilient design and sustainability. Experts from the fields of architecture, engineering, planning and insurance have figured out how to harden houses against the threat of myriad natural disasters including fire, wind and flood. The issue […]

The Future of Hurricane-Proof Construction Is Taking Shape in Florida

The town of Babcock Ranch was built to withstand hurricanes. And it runs almost entirely on solar energy. BY ERIKA THOMAS Imagine an American town that’s powered almost entirely by solar energy, where commercial and residential development is balanced with natural green space and ecosystems, and the infrastructure is specifically designed to withstand natural disasters.You […]

Realtor.com: Inside America’s First Solar-Powered Community

America’s first solar-powered community has had a “mind-blowing” effect on residents’ power bills—and it’s even getting attention for surviving Hurricane Milton unscathed, and without losing power. Billed as “the Hometown of Tomorrow,” this planned community in Punta Gorda, FL, just 15 miles from Fort Myers, is fueled by solar energy, thanks to the 880-acre solar […]

A Hands-On Solar Experience at Babcock Ranch’s FPL Eco-Discovery Center

Babcock Ranch is not just any community—it’s America’s First Solar-Powered Town. With a strong commitment to sustainability, resilience, and technological innovation, Babcock Ranch leads the way in creating a living environment that is both eco-friendly and future-forward. One of the most exciting attractions here is the Solar Ranch – an FPL Eco-Discovery Center, a place […]

Forbes: Hurricanes Helene and Milton Should Motivate Us to Bury Power Lines

Hurricanes Helene and Milton remind us of electricity infrastructure’s vulnerability to extreme weather events. However, at least one Florida community, Babcock Ranch, managed to avoid electricity shutoffs from downed power lines. A newspaper story reported that “All the structures at Babcock Ranch are built to withstand more than 150-mile-per-hour hurricane force winds, and its 150-megawatt […]

SolarButterfly Visits Babcock Ranch

The SolarButterfly, a 30-foot, solar-powered, self-sustainable residential vehicle, visited Babcock Ranch—also known as America’s first solar-powered town, on it’s 4-year global tour to show the world that there are solutions against Global Warming. Read more about their visit in this Gulfshore Business article.

Babcock Ranch featured in New York Times article on solar power

Not every energy-resilient community is classified as a microgrid. Babcock Ranch, a development about 15 miles northeast of Fort Myers, Fla., calls itself the nation’s first solar-powered town. Babcock Ranch has an 870-acre solar farm to power the community, including two solar array systems totaling 150 megawatts of capacity, a transmission substation (with another being […]