Benderson buys Fort Myers Winn-Dixie anchored shopping center

Benderson Development, the prolific East Manatee County commercial real estate firm, has bought another grocery anchored shopping center, its latest pick up in a recent buying spree.

The company’s newest asset is the 280,000-square-foot Cypress Trace shopping center in Fort Myers. The Winn-Dixie anchored center sits on 29 acres at 13300 S. Cleveland Ave. at the intersection of U.S. Highway 41 and Daniels Parkway. It’s tenant mix includes Bealls, Five Below, Burlington and Ross Dress for Less.

Benderson did not disclose a sale price but according to Lee County records it paid $40.35 million.

The previous owner was an LLC that paid $15.39 million for the property in 2007.

Cypress Trace joins a Fort Myers shopping center portfolio for Benderson that already includes Cypress Woods, Colonial Square and the Shops at Village Walk. The firm calls the properties “a collection of three adjacent sites that form a major retail hub along Six Mile Cypress Parkway near the Colonial Boulevard intersection.”

In addition to the Fort Myers buy, Benderson also picked up a 25,000-square-foot mixed-use property located on Park Avenue in Winter Park. The property at 307 S. Park Ave. includes retail on the ground floor and a 28-room boutique hotel on the second floor.

So far this year, Benderson has bought about a half dozen properties in and out of the state.

Those, according to the Business Observer’s archives, include: North River Marketplace in Venice, a 51-acre site for a mixed-use development; Glengary Shoppes in Sarasota, anchored by Barnes & Noble and Best Buy; Carrillon Place in Naples, a 250,000-square-foot open-air shopping center with TJ Maxx and Walmart; Monarch Ranch, a 3,400-acre industrial development site in Wildwood; Linton Commons in Delray Beach; and a freestanding Walgreens in Missoula, Montana.

Benderson, founded in 1949 and based in University Park, has a total portfolio that includes more than 1,000 properties totaling over 55 million square feet in 40 states.

This story has been updated to include the purchase price of the Fort Myers property and the purchase in Winter Park.