Big Bay

Commercial real estate brokers scoffed a decade ago when they heard Benderson Development intended to build a supersized industrial park filled with enormous truck bays in the Sarasota-Bradenton region.

The concern was there wasn't enough business to support it, even in the boom. Brokers were wary of any complex that would sit empty and dent occupancy rates. “(Company founder) Nate Benderson took a lot of flack for that project,” Benderson executive Larry Fineberg says. “They didn't think this was the right market for that.”

But that project, the Sarasota-Bradenton Commerce Center, has turned into a 700,000-square-foot gem. There are currently more than a dozen tenants, from national pretzel company Snyder's of Hanover to Furniture Warehouse, a local chain. The center is 93% occupied.