New Jersey family pays $14.6M for Fort Myers shopping center

The College Plaza shopping center in Fort Myers has sold.

The 56,386-square-foot property at 7070 College Parkway was bought by a family of out-of-state investors for $14.6 million.

CBRE Capital Markets represented both parties and announced the deal. It says the buyer is the Storino family, which bought the property through an LLC. Among its holdings is the famed Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in New Jersey.

The family says in the statement that the “combination of the unrivaled, trophy location, highly attractive aesthetic design, strong corporate nationally recognized tenants with lengthy lease histories and below market rents ensures the stability of this investment” for the long term.

According to Lee County property records, the previous owner paid $3.9 million for the property in 2010.

The center sits on 5.25 acres, and CBRE says it has been fully leased for the past 10 years to a tenant mix that includes Ada’s Natural Market, West Marine and Pet Supermarket. An outparcel is occupied by Five Guys, Tijuana Flats and The Good Feet Store.

Jim Shiebler, a senior vice president at the firm, says in the statement that interest in the property was “enormous” and that a 10-stage marketing campaign “resulted in the execution of an exclusive agreement within just one day of market activation.”

The marketing campaign included photoshoots with drone and helicopter, video, media engagement and a custom marketing brochure, he says.

The family, in the statement announcing its purchase of the shopping center, says it chose College Plaza after a “thorough examinations of numerous Florida shopping centers over the past several years” and that it believes the center “has the winning formula for long term stability and success.”

Jenkinson’s, according to a history on its website says the boardwalk on Point Pleasant Beach traces its roots back to the 1920s.

The Storino family, whose Fort Myers LLC has an address that matches the boardwalk’s address, bought what was then known as Jenkinson’s Pavillion in 1978. At the time Pasquale “Pat” Storino, a jukebox and arcade games dealer, “was looking for a new opportunity that would not require so much travel.”

The history says Storino began visiting in the 1940s and that his family had owned a home on the beach.

He bought Jenkinson’s holdings “and immediately launched a renovation of the Pavilion, creating an arcade, concessions stands, games and a restaurant.”