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Following an extensive advertising campaign, particularly in Chicago, New York, Cleveland and Boston, and in western Europe, Latin America, and the Far East, people began to pour onto the island. Thirty days following the official opening, 50,000 inquiries would flood the tiny administration office on San Marco Road where the island police and fire department stands today.
 The first waterways were constructed for opening day, as were the first twelve homes. Brochures listed the waterfront homes from $19,800 to $41,500 depending upon the size. Inland homes on Tahiti Road ranged in price from $14,900 to $23,500. Homesites were listed in the $2,550 range for inland lots and from $5,495 to $16,000 for waterfront sites.
By 1968 the island population had grown to an estimated 1,000 people and Deltona was continually adding new home models to the market.
At the end of the decade and on the eve of Marco Island’s fifth birthday there was enormous progress. Over 500 apartment units had been completed and another 172 were under construction. Emerald Beach, Sunset House, Southwind, Sea Breeze, and Sea Breeze South condominiums had bee completed. Over 9,500 homesites had been sold and recreational facilities were under construction. A new bridge spanned the Marco River -- tolls were taken when it opened on December 13, 1969, the same year that the Marco Towne Center opened.
By the end of 1973 the population had jumped to an estimated 5,000 full and part-time residents. More than 700 single-family homes and 1,500 condominium units had been completed. By the mid-1970s the second bridge connecting the island with the mainland at Goodland was completed.
Serious problems developed for the Mackle Brothers in 1976. Previously approved dredge and fill permits to develop Barfield Bay and Big Key, the final two phases of development, were denied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Environmentalists and conservationists would soon take center stage and through years of litigation, compromise, and public meetings, Deltona would fight the denial all the way to the Supreme Court while teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. In an effort to raise funds for their court battles, the company proceeded to sell many undeveloped properties at bargain basement prices and began selling assets, including its prized possession, the Marco Beach Hotel and Villas, which was sold to the Marriott Corporation in 1979 for $35 million.
On March 22, 1982 the Supreme Court refused a Deltona petition to overturn the court decision. The Mackles virtually turned their undeveloped holdings into nature preserves. More than 7,000 people had contracts for homesites on property that now could not be developed. Deltona had used much of the down payment cash flow to develop other parts of the island. The company immediately offered cash refunds, alternative island property, and exchanges for property in other Deltona communities.
Both residential and commercial development occurred at an astonishing pace through the 1980s thereafter. By 1998 about 80% of the total potential dwelling units had been completed.
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