CBC Saunders to host I-4 event

Amazon. Walmart. Publix. Southern Wine & Spirits. Medline Industries. Coca-Cola. These are but a few of the companies that distribute goods from the Interstate 4 corridor, between Tampa and Orlando.

The buzz about the corridor has grown so great that Coldwell Banker Commercial Saunders Ralston Dantzler Realty, of Lakeland, intends to hold an event centered around the real estate, and the phenomenon, of the corridor.

The I-4 Commercial Corridor Conference will be held 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 11. A lunchtime keynote address on the region's economy will be presented by Chris Oakley, vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Gary Ralston, a CBC Saunders partner, expects as many as 350 participants to attend the event at the Florida Polytechnic University, in Lakeland, based on a similar confab held in 2016.

“We believe the I-4 corridor, despite the success here, remains a defined geography that is under-appreciated,” says Ralston, a partner in CBC Saunders.

“We're literally the center of Florida. There are over 20 million consumers who are reachable within a five-hour drive. So it's our goal, through the conference, to bring that fact to more people's attention.”

The conference will consist of a series of break-out sessions addressing industrial space, Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets Inc.'s history, commercial lending and an update on the Florida Department of Transportation's activity.

Information about the conference can be found at i4commercial.net.