Metro park trades in Fort Myers

Metro Distribution Center, a 19-building industrial project in Fort Myers, has been purchased in one of the largest commercial real estate sales of the year in Lee County.

Metro Center TWA LLC, of Ohio, bought the 255,000-square-foot center as part of a portfolio purchase that involved retail, office and multifamily asset classes for $12.25 million.

Premier Commercial Inc.'s Andrew DeSalvo and Matt Stepan represented Metro Center TWA in the negotiations, while SW Management & Realty Matt Price represented seller Metro Center FIP.

The 26-acre business park, at Old Metro Parkway and Warehouse Road in Fort Myers, was developed between 1972 and 1989.

The seller, a Canadian group, had acquired the park out of foreclosure in 2013 for $5 million. At the time, Metro Distribution was half vacant.

To make the park more attractive to buyers, Metro Center FIP made a series of capital improvements and enticed credit tenants to lease space there.

Today, the park's vacancy is down to 22%.

“The seller's improvements changed the nature of the property to one of a more institutional type of investment,” says Stepan. “They also allowed the buyer to take on the role of a landlord instead of a developer, the slate of quality tenants that were added made the deal more appealing and the vacancy in the property now provides a lot of upside.”