Benderson starts industrial project in Ellenton

Buoyed by a lack of industrial space in Sarasota and Manatee counties, Benderson Development Co. has kicked off construction of a new multi-building “flex” project in the Ellenton section of Manatee County.

The company's Gulf Coast Commerce Park will initially contain a trio of buildings containing roughly 300,000 square feet, which will be completed in mid-2018. A second phase calls for another three buildings to be constructed.

But Larry Fineberg, the company's executive director of industrial, office and warehouse projects, says the 100-acre site, across Interstate 75 from the Ellenton Outlet Mall, could accommodate a build-to-suit tenant seeking as much as 1 million square feet.