Steak and sizzle

To Randy Mercer, the Roadhouse Grill steakhouse on College Parkway in Fort Myers always stood out, though not for its sizzling steaks.

Mercer, partner in the office of CB Richard Ellis in Fort Myers, is a longtime commercial real estate broker in the area specializing in office space. Together with Stan Stouder, also a partner in the same firm, they assembled a small group of investors to buy the steakhouse with its 2.7 acres out of bankruptcy court in 2000 for $800,000 with the intention of converting it to office space.

The steakhouse stood out because it didn't fit in on College Parkway, a main corridor lined with office buildings popular with bankers and other professionals. “College Parkway was my home court,” Mercer says. “It's always going to be the financial center of Southwest Florida.”