Large land deals may pause

A pair of $30 million-plus land deals in the Naples area recently have highlighted the health of the Collier County real estate market, but the broker involved in both transactions predicts another mega-sale won't happen again regionally anytime soon.

Randy Thibaut, the broker and CEO at Fort Myers-based Land Solutions Inc., who sold the tracts with William Rollins and Doug Meschko to a partnership led by investor Jeff Greene and London Bay Homes, respectively, called the deals “rare.”

In May, a Greene-led partnership called 27th/Pico Boulevard Ltd. Partnership acquired 2,576 acres in North Naples for $38.5 million, and last month, London Bay Homes spent $33.7 million to buy 55 acres adjacent to the Naples Grande Golf Club, at 7540 Golden Gate Parkway.

Both purchases were more than just straight land deals, however. Greene's acquisition came with an ongoing agricultural and mining operation. London Bay's deal involved one of the last large-scale tracts near downtown Naples. Ultimately, the builder expects to develop some 250 luxury residences in the Grey Oaks PUD and generate more than $300 million in sales.

Regardless of the circumstances, Thibaut believes another sale of the same magnitude may not occur until the end of 2017.

“I think we're seeing the tail end of the big deals for awhile,” says Thibaut. “These deals take a long time to put together, which is why they're so few and far between. They're rare for a reason. And the land market has slowed a little bit over the past year.

“I don't expect we'll see anything of this magnitude in land for the balance of 2016 and quite possibly 2017,” he adds. “Users and builders are both looking at absorption and taking a pause to see what happens in the market. Builders, in particular, who often take big positions in land are tapping their brakes a little bit to see where things are headed.”