AutoPride Collision owner buys Sherwin-Williams facility

BUYER: JMF Holdings 2131 LLC (principal: Joseph Formica Jr.), Fort Myers

SELLER: The Sherwin-Williams Co.

PROPERTY: 2131 Andrea Lane, Fort Myers

PRICE: $1 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $2 million, March 2002

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Fort Myers businessman Joseph Formica Jr. purchased a 33,772-square-foot industrial building for $1 million.

The price equated to $30 per square foot.

Along with a two-story flex building, the property also features three acres for future expansion.

Fort Myers-based paint manufacturer Johnson Paints sold the facility, created as a Flex Bon Paints mixing plant, to The Sherwin-Williams Co. in 2002. Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams, which acquired the assets of Johnson Paints, eventually vacated the building.

Formica is best known as the owner of seven AutoPride Collision Repair Centers along the Gulf Coast. He did not reply to calls for comment prior to deadline.

Jerry Messonnier, Bob Johnston and Derek Bornhorst of Lee & Associates in Naples-Fort Myers handled the transaction.

“It's really a concrete bunker,” Messonnier says. “While the office space may need some updating, the warehouse space is fine. There is some deferred maintenance but nothing extreme.”