Naples ReDevelopment Inc. buys St. George and the Dragon site

BUYER: The George LLC (Naples Re-Development Inc.), Naples
SELLER: 936 Fifth Inc.
PROPERTY: 935 Sixth Ave. S. and 936 and 980 Fifth Ave. S., Naples
PRICE: $5.2 million
ATTORNEY ON DEED: George P. Langford, Naples

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Naples ReDevelopment Inc. purchased the 10,381-square-foot former St. George and the Dragon restaurant for $5.2 million.

The price equated to $501 per square foot or $4 million per acre. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot and acreage for retail space ($140 and $746,593, respectively) in Southwest Florida.

The new owner plans to redevelop the 1.3-acre property, which sits on downtown Naples' prominent Fifth Avenue retail corridor.

“[Adam Smith, principal of Naples ReDevelopment] has been trying to acquire that property for the better part of 10 years, but he could never come to terms with the owner,” says Adam Benigni, who handles acquisitions land development and sales and marketing for Naples ReDevelopment. “It's an extremely visible site. Rarely do you have this much contiguous property to develop in that area of downtown. We have a couple different concepts of what we could do there. We are hoping to pin it down within the next two to three weeks. We haven't even started the approval process with the city yet.”

Naples ReDevelopment is considering a mixed-use project on the site that could include retail, a restaurant, bank, hotel or condominiums. The company has not chosen an architect for the project yet and hasn't ruled out incorporating portions of the current building into the new development. The developer hopes to start construction on the project by the end of the year.

David Stevens of Investment Properties Corp. represented the seller and Adam Smith of Waterfront Realty represented the buyer.