Florida Ag Commissioner sells his Pasco land to egg producer for $11 million

Naples/Fort Myers

Housing start:  A Delray Beach commercial real estate firm has bought 34.51 acres at 7150 and 7200 Bayshore Drive in North Fort Myers. It paid $1.95 million for the property.  Justin Thibaut, CEO of LSI Cos., which brokered the deal, says “the buyer is seeking approvals for residential development.” The buyer is an LLC named Black Spider Land Co. which, according Florida Division of Corporations’ database, shares a Delray Beach address with Pugliese Creative Ventures, a privately held real estate management, acquisition, sales and development company. According to the firm’s website, it is run by president and CEO Laura K Pugliese who is listed as manager for Black Spider. And Black Spider’s VP listed in the state’s database is David Cloran, Pugliese’s vice president of real estate management, according to the website.

Tampa/St. Petersburg

Egg heads: Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson has sold a 21-acre property in Dade City to a national egg producer. The property is at 21210 U.S. Highway 98 in Pasco County and sold for $11 million, according to county property records. The property — owned by Simpson Farms Inc. and the commissioner and his wife, Kathryn D. Simpson — was sold to Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the self-described “largest producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs” in the U.S. The Ridgeland, Mississippi, publicly traded company reported quarterly net sales of $997.5 million in its most recent earnings statement. As for questions of a potential conflict, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says it does not oversee large egg operations in the state. An industry group, the Egg Safety Center, says oversight is handled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The state does issue permits for limited poultry and egg farm operations, which are limited to selling no more than 30 dozen eggs and/or up to 384 dressed poultry in any one week. While egg prices are high, they’d have to rise a whole lot more in order for 30 dozen a week to add up to just shy of $1 billion in sales over three months.

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A for effort: The words affordable housing and Tampa don’t appear in the same sentence too often these days. Bu the city is trying to change that. On June 28 it picked a local development company, PDG, for a $3 million grant issued through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program to help fund the construction of a 10-unit apartment complex in Ybor City. (SHIP provides funds to localities to incentivize them to create partnerships that lead to affordable housing.) The complex, at 2108 E. Columbus Drive, is for families at or below 80% of the Area Median Income. It will be complete in about 18 months. Later in the week, the city launched an interactive map on its website allowing developers to get a better look and information on city-owned lots set aside for affordable housing projects. Developers can filter the map by CRA, council district, overlay district and its Future Land Use designation.

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Speed and sleep: There’s a new motor sports club coming to Polk County taking the term crash to a new level. Circuit Florida, a members-only motorsports club, has won state approval to sell 75 residential condos on its property. This, the Auburndale company says, makes it the “the only private motorsports club in Florida where members can stay overnight anytime and for any duration." The two-story townhouse-style units range from 863 square feet to 2,837 square feet and have garage space for up to six cars. Prices range from $475,000 for a studio unit with a one-car garage to $1.8M for a two-bedroom unit with a balcony, a six-car garage and elevated track views. The units come with a membership that includes use of the 1.7-mile racetrack with 14 turns and an 1,800-foot straightaway where a car can reach 150 miles per hour. The club opens to members in December. 

Sarasota/Manatee

The new guy: The former longtime home of Sarasota law firm Williams Parker Attorneys has sold. The building at 200 S. Orange Ave. was bought for $32 million by an LLC that shares an address with Steele Harbour Capital Partners. Steele Harbour is a Washington, D.C. real estate investment firm that in March opened an office on Main Street in Sarasota. The office is run by Christopher McGrew, Steel Harbour’s co-founder and CEO. McGrew is also listed as the manager of the LLC that bought the Orange Avenue building. The firm has has total assets under management of about $1 billion according to its website. Williams Parker is moving from the building later this year into new digs at the Plaza at Five Points in Sarasota. According to the firm's website, it built the Orange Avenue office in 1973, selling the building to a New Hampshire investment firm in 2018.

(This story was updated to reflect the timing of Williams Parker's office move and when it built its old office.) 

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