Texas investor buys Venice medical building for $34.3 million

Naples/Fort Myers

Buy to conserve: Lee County is buying 71 acres of property in North Fort Myers and Bokeelia that will be set aside for conservation. County Commissioners approved the purchases at its first meeting of the year. In total, the county is paying $6 million for the land. The Fort Myers property is 51 acres and is along the Caloosahatchee River and the Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve. It sold for $5 million plus closing costs. The property in Bokeelia, which is on Pine Island, is at the end of Ficus Tree Lane, a private dirt road, and immediately south of the Calusa Land Trust & Nature Preserve, near Smokehouse Bay Preserve. The 20-acre parcel sold for $1 million plus closing costs. The purchases are part of Lee’s Conservation 20/20 Land Acquisition program which buys land for “resource-based opportunities” including hiking, birdwatching and nature studies as well as protects drinking water and provide wildlife habitats.

Fine eatin’: J. Alexander’s has opened in Naples. The popular, upscale chain’s new location is 8860 Tamiami Trail N., site of a former Buca Di Beppo Italian restaurant. Buca had been in that space for about 20 years before closing in 2022. J. Alexander’s new 9,000-square-foot eatery is its seventh in the state — including one in Tampa — and No. 30 in the U.S. The chain is owned by Houston-based SPB Hospitality, which bought J. Alexander’s in 2021 for $220 million. SPB’s roster of restaurants is rather diverse — so diverse the owner of J. Alexander’s bought Krystal Restaurants last year.