Goodwill Industries Southwest Florida buys new headquarters

BUYER: Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida NMTC Resourced I LLC, North Fort Myers

SELLER: JLM Financial Investment 3 LLC

PROPERTY: 5100 Tice St., Fort Myers

PRICE: $2.06 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $8.6 million, April 2006

TITLE FIRM ON DEED: Stewart Title Co., Bonita Springs

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida purchased a 126,191-square-foot warehouse building for $2.06 million.

The price equated to $16 per square foot.

Goodwill plans to extensively renovate the building to serve as a replacement for its North Fort Myers headquarters.

“Our agency has experienced exponential growth over the last five years,” Tom Feurig, president and CEO of Goodwill, says in a news release. “North Fort Myers has been our home since 1966, and we plan to maintain a presence in North Fort Myers. We've made the most of the 30,000 square feet we have here, and we've just run out of opportunities to expand in our existing space.”

The new facility will house the nonprofit's administrative staff, operations plant, e-commerce department, Secure Shred facilities and a Job-Link center. In addition, the larger location will contain the Goodwill L.I.F.E. Academy charter school, a clearance/outlet store and a training center.

Since 2007, Goodwill reports it has experienced a 300% increase in the number of clients it serves. That year, the agency assisted 7,200 Southwest Floridians with disabilities and other disadvantages to gain employment and independence. By the close of 2012, Goodwill estimates 29,000 clients will have come to the agency. To accommodate that growth, Goodwill has increased its work force from 425 to 650. A number of Goodwill employees have been asked to work from home or temporary locations to accommodate the organization's rapid growth.

“We've already hired an architect for the project and we hope to move in as soon as possible,” says Kirsten Britt O'Donnell, director of public relations and marketing for Goodwill Industries. “We've been renting storage all over town, so obviously we'll be able to move that in a lot sooner than people. We will be gradually moving people in department by department.”

Goodwill mortgaged the property to SunTrust Community Development Enterprises LLC for $10 million and to SunTrust Bank for $7.85 million.

Stan Stouder and Tim Schneider of CRE Consultants represented the seller and Dan O'Berski of Trinity Commercial Group represented the buyer.