Grand vision

Eric Grimes and Marshall Gobuty form an unlikely development partnership.

Grimes is a fifth-generation Manatee County resident, and a sheriff's deputy-turned-businessman who most recently was an executive with a dental laboratory network firm. Gobuty is a Canadian-born global entrepreneur who has overseen everything from an apartment project in Berlin to an energy project in Nigeria to villas in west Bradenton.

The improbable duo, who met late last year through a mutual friend, Bradenton-based First America Bank founder Dan Hager, is now tackling what could be the most unusual project of their career: turning one of the largest undeveloped land parcels in Cortez Village, on the mainland shore of Sarasota Bay in Manatee County, into a luxury RV park.

“I envision this to be the No. 1 motor coach resort in America,” says Grimes. “This will be a sought after place.”

Grimes and Gobuty bought the property, nearly 18 acres, last month. The business partners, through Florida Land Enterprises, paid $10 million for the land, which includes three sides of waterfront boat dock access that connects to the Intracoastal Waterway and multiple canals. The land, owned previously by a Swedish family under the business entity Hunters Hill Inc., is currently an outdoor boat and RV storage site, but is mostly vacant.

Grimes didn't even know the land was for sale as recently as last Christmas. Then an aunt called him about it, and he took a tour. He was blown away, from how close it is to the water to how quiet it is even though it's right off Cortez Road to how nobody else had bought it.

“This is a little piece of heaven that was beneath everyone's noses,” says Grimes. “This piece is so special. It's unreal.”

Grimes was in. But he needed another piece — help securing financing and someone with experience in complicated developments. Gobuty fits that perfectly. The pair hit it off.

Grimes and Gobuty have since met with Manatee County officials, and plan to hold more meetings, about what's feasible and what could work for the site. The luxury RV resort is in the early planning stages, and both developers say it's subject to changes. The idea for an RV resort, says Grimes, comes from the premise that he says what the area doesn't need is yet another condo project. He acknowledges the project's potential profits could dip by going to RVs, instead of condos or even homes.

The land is permitted for nine units per acre, which would translate into about 160 condos. But Grimes believes 125 RV pads, combined with a bevy of potential luxury amenities, including a swimming pool, boat docks and maybe someday a bar, is the best way to do a profitable project that meshes with Cortez Village's Old Florida charm. One particular advantage, he says, is that unlike condo owners, RV residents will mostly have short-term stays, so there will be less traffic tie-ups. The RV park will likely offer weekly stays during high season, and daily stays in summer, with rates to be determined.

Grimes and Gobuty have also met with nearby business owners and residents, to gauge their input. Says Grimes: “I'm not the type of developer who is going to do whatever he wants.”

Grimes is the type of person, he admits, who gets bored easily. His first work passion is law enforcement: His father was a Manatee County police office killed in the line of duty when the younger Grimes was 7 years old. Grimes became a Manatee County deputy right out of high school.

Even then, Grimes hedged. He also had a passion, and a mind, for business. He ran a Signs Now franchise in Sarasota while in the police academy. After that, with some business partners, he helped grow Bradenton-based dental prosthetics manufacturer Natural Prosthetic Dental Lab into a multimillion-dollar business. Clearwater-based Dental Services Group bought NPDL in 2013.

Grimes recently visited a few other luxury RV sites in Florida, including one in Naples. That one, he says, is nice, but it's cookie-cutter and it's off the highway — not a football field away from the Gulf of Mexico like their project. Grimes estimates he and Gobuty could spend $3 million to $6 million on the RV project in the next three years. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he says, “that doesn't exist anywhere else.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon