Sarasota County manufacturer sells more than 110,000-square-foot facility

Naples/Fort Myers

Retail therapy: The Cape Coral Commons shopping center has been sold. A Coral Gables investment firm bought the two-building Pine Island Road shopping center for $14.75 million, according to Lee County property records. The shopping center at the northwest Corner of Del Prado Boulevard and Pine Island Road was developed by Thomson Thrift out of Indiana. Among its current tenants are Crumbl Cookies, First Watch, Mission BBQ, Tire Kingdom and Vision Works. According to state and county records, the buyer is an LLC named Fat Deer Key that shares an address and P.O. Box — and a manager — with Coury Holdings. (In a press released posted to its website, Thomson says the property was sold to an “independent buyer from California.”) 

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Apartment life: A 216-unit apartment complex has opened in Port Charlotte. The property, Springs of West Port, is at 1080 West Port Blvd. in the 450-acre master planned West Port development. The complex was built by Wisconsin developer Continental Properties and features one-, two- and three-bedroom “townhome-style” apartments with private entrances and an option for garages. Continental has 100 Springs branded properties in the U.S., 16 of them in Florida. Of those, there are complexes in Fort Myers, Estero, Bradenton, Naples, Cape Coral and a second Port Charlotte property. In all, the company owns 125 communities totaling more than 33,000 units in 19 states.

Buy, build or lease: With industrial vacancy rates in Southwest Florida at record lows, businesses are having to decide what’s the best path forward when looking for space. So says global commercial real estate firm Eres, which has an office and capital division in Sarasota. According to the firm’s market report for the first half of 2023, vacancy rates in the region are at an all-time low — 2.2% in Sarasota, 1% in Fort Myers, 1% in Naples and 0.3% in Punta Gorda. That's well below the national average of 4.6%. The firm says more inventory is on the way (4.3 million square feet of industrial space under construction in Fort Myers alone) but the projects are large and the going per square foot price in the market is $3.50 higher than it is nationally ($9.76 per square foot). What does that mean? The firm says many businesses are scrambling to decide whether to buy, build or lease. “A healthy market does present its own set of unique challenges and there's no exact science to determine which market or product type is the best for your business,” Eres says.

Tampa/St. Petersburg

Finance option: The buyers of a retail center at Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg obtained $16.5 million in acquisition financing for the purchase. The buyer, Boston Capital, paid $37.8 million for the property at 2300 Tyrone Blvd. N. on Sept. 21 and the loan was issued through Miami-based City National Bank of Florida. The center’s current tenant roster includes Dick’s Sporting Goods, Five Below and PetSmart. Grocer Aldi is opening in the center in the coming months. This is the second big shopping center purchase City National has helped finance in recent months. Earlier this year it provided $53.7 million (of $77.93 million) to the buyers of the 460,000-square-foot Lakeside Village open air center in Lakeland. Daniel Diaz Leyva, an attorney for Day Pitney who closed the St. Pete deal, says the financing “demonstrates my client’s ability to fund high-quality assets in one of Florida's top-performing retail markets.”

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Shovels at the ready: A West Palm Beach developer is about to begin work on a long-awaited 965-acre development project in Pasco County. Columnar Holdings is scheduled to hold a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday, Oct. 5 for its mixed-use DoubleBranch development at Interstate 75 and State Route 52. When complete, the project is expected to include 4 million square feet of industrial space, 725,000 square feet of offices and 400,000 square feet of retail along with 3,500 housing units and 300 hotel beds. The groundbreaking will be on the site where construction will begin on the first 2.5 million square feet of industrial and life sciences space, as well 100 acres of the mixed-use development. In August, Columnar announced it had secured $80.5 in funding for the project.

Sarasota/Manatee

Stay put: The Nokomis manufacturing facility belonging to Tervis Tumbler Co. has been sold, but the insulated drinkware company isn’t going anywhere. Company CEO Rogan Donelly says it is leasing back about 60,000 square feet of the property, which is all it needs after adopting a hybrid work model. Other than that, it’s business as usual he says. The property was sold for $15.35 million to Bulgio Capital, an investment firm with offices in Pennsylvania and Israel. Two remaining spaces on the site, which total 64,860 square feet, are on the market to be leased. According to a flyer from Sarasota commercial real estate firm Ian Black Real Estate, the spaces include numerous truck wells and more than 400 parking spaces. Both are climate controlled and have space for office. Tervis paid $1.8 million for the property in October 2004, according to Sarasota County property records. 

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