Fort Myers partners form TurnKey Developers LLC

Jerry Wallace, president and CEO of Fort Myers-based general contractor J. L. Wallace Inc.; real estate developer Joe Allardt and commercial real estate expert Todd Fitzgerald have formed TurnKey Developers LLC. The company will locate and develop commercial centers and invest in businesses that will operate in those centers.

TurnKey's first investment, Premier Auto Service Center, opened for business in July and added 10 new jobs to the business in Cape Coral.

“This is just a start. We'll continue investing in local businesses, developing commercial centers and creating jobs for the people of Southwest Florida,” Allardt says in a press release.

Emile and Jocelyn Dauphinais, residents of Cape Coral, are managing partners in Premier Auto and run the daily operations.

“The economic crash and loss of jobs in Southwest Florida devastated many families in our community,” Wallace says in a press release. “We're going to put people back to work, one small business at a time.”

TurnKey says it's also currently working with national companies that want to expand into Southwest Florida.

Fitzgerald was previously vice president of land acquisitions and development for Hovnanian Homes and president of Equity Funding, a private lending firm specializing in commercial real estate.