Southern Corporate Packers buys larger packing warehouse

BUYER: GTA Properties LLC (principal: Brian Arrigo), Immokalee

SELLER: Immokalee Properties LLC

PROPERTY: 2062 Commerce Ave. and 2061 Global Drive, Immokalee

PRICE: $950,000

PREVIOUS PRICE: $900,000, August 2000

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Thomas K. Boardman PA, Immokalee

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Southern Corporate Packers Inc. purchased a roughly 40,000-square-foot warehouse building on 6.62 acres on Global Drive for $950,000.

The price equated to $143,505 per acre.

The fruit and vegetable shipper has already relocated to the building from a smaller leased location on Main Street.

“To be compliant with new food safety regulations we needed to make the move,” says Brian Arrigo, president of Southern Corporate Packers. “We needed it to be completely enclosed to be food-safety certified. It is an excellent facility with much larger coolant space.”

The additional space in the new building combined with several new growers is driving the company to significantly increase its packing work force. Southern Corporate Packers expects to grow its staff in the packing facility from around 25 to between 80 and 100 during the next month.

The Global Drive property also contains enough vacant land that it could be expanded some time in the future with a 50,000-square-foot building.

“We are seeing consolidations of a lot bigger companies and the downsizing of a lot of others,” Arrigo says. “Growers have just a handful of shippers to choose from in the Immokalee area. We expected to see continued growth over the next 10 years.”

The purchase entity GTA Properties LLC mortgaged the property to the former owner Immokalee Properties LLC for $900,000.