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Celebrity real estate investor pays $59.6M for Fort Myers apartments

In the week's top commercial real estate news, a retail center is on the market in Sarasota, a major renovation comes to Lakeland shopping center, and a medical building sells in Bradenton.


  • By Louis Llovio
  • | 5:00 a.m. May 19, 2024
  • | 2 Free Articles Remaining!
Grant Cardone is the founder and CEO of Cardone Capital.
Grant Cardone is the founder and CEO of Cardone Capital.
Image via CardoneCapital.com
  • Florida
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Naples/Fort Myers/Charlotte

Medical practicing: A 5,413-square-foot medical office building in Naples has sold. The building at 3467 Pine Ridge Road traded hands for $1.45 million. LQ Commercial Real Estate Services announced the deal. The buyer, according to LQ, was a private investor. The previous owner Cam Square paid $1.63 million for the property in 2007. The purchase of the building is strictly as an investment. There are currently two tenants and there is a turnkey vacant space set up for a dental practice. Adam Palmer, principal and managing director of LQ in Naples, expects there to be a lot of interest in that space. He compared finding out a built-out dental space to finding a unicorn.

School’s out: The former Classroom Plus store building in Naples has sold. According to Collier property records, the building at 650 Goodlette-Frank Road N. was bought by an Immokalee investor who paid $2.99 million for it. The previous owner, a Naples LLC, paid $1.235 million for the building in 2007. The property was the longtime home of the school supply retailer, which closed March 1 after about 20 years in business. In a Dec. 4 social media post announcing the closing, the owner wrote that “the time has come to close the register and make the time to pursue personal interests.” According to a lease listing for the space, the building is about 7,200 square feet and has 22 parking spaces. It was built in 1985. The Trinity Commercial Group, which has offices in Estero, Tampa, Boca Raton and Jacksonville, is the leasing agent. The company did not respond to a request for pricing details.

X marks the spot: Cardone Capital, an Aventura real estate investment firm run by celebrity real estate investor Grant Cardone, has bought a 252-unit apartment community in Fort Myers. The complex is the 10X at The Forum on Champions Ring Road in The Forum master-planned community off of Interstate 75. According to Lee County property records, Cardone Capital paid $56 million for the property. The previous owner, a group of five LLCs, paid $49.7 million for it in 2008. The community has units ranging in size from a 545-square-foot one bedroom starting at $1,574 a month to a 1,340-square-foot three bedroom starting at $2,430. According to Benzinga, a national finance industry media company, Cardone’s multifamily portfolio has $4.4 billion in assets under management. That includes 39 properties totaling about 12,700 units. Cardone, according to a bio on his YouTube channel, is the "author of eight business books, 13 business programs and is the CEO of seven privately held companies."


Tampa/St. Petersburg/Pasco/Polk

Lakeside Village in Lakeland is getting a major renovation and new branding.
Image courtesy of Continental Realty Corporation

Mall walking: The Lakeland Village shopping center, which sold last year for nearly $78 million, is about to undergo a $3 million renovation. Baltimore-based Continental Realty Corp. says its plans include replacing the shopping center’s roof, painting the exterior and revitalizing the commercial office space. Continental bought the three parcels that make up the 460,000-square-foot lifestyle center last year, paying $63.26 million, $8.66 million and $6.07 million in separate transactions. In addition to the renovation, the company plans to rebrand the property with a new logo with a “sleek font and vibrant color palette,” according to a statement, that sends the message that the center offers “a dynamic, stylish, and community-centric shopping environment.” There are also plans to refresh the current events schedule, changing it from promotions driven to community centric and seasonal. The 88-acre mixed-used retail center counts among its tenants anchors Belk, Books-A-Million and an 18-screen CMX Cinemas.

Top of the world: Crews working on a 15-story apartment building in St. Petersburg have made it to the top. J.E. Dunn Construction topped out the new tower at 1000 First Ave. N. in the city’s Edge district May 9. The project is being built at the southwest corner of First Avenue North and Dr. MLK Jr. Street. It has been under construction for about a year and with the focus now turning to the interior of the building, the plan is for it to be completed by late next year. Viv, as the property will be called, is made up of 269 units consisting of studio, one, two and three-bedroom units as well as 15,500 square feet of retail space and a 355-space parking garage. 

Staying power: An extended stay hotel in Tampa has sold for $9.35 million. According to county property records, the hotel at 6902 W. Hillsborough Ave. was bought by an LLC whose address matches the New Port Richey hotel company Dhruv Management. The previous owner, a local LLC, paid $217,400 for it in 1999. The Tampa Bay Extended Hotel Airport, as it’s known, is one of two locations owned by the same company, according to its website. The other is in Largo. That property is also is owned by an LLC with an address matching Dhruv. The company paid $5.3 million for that building in 2019, according to Pinellas County property records. As for the Tampa hotel, the three-story building was built in 1999 and has 136 rooms. Until just recently, it had been named the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel.


Sarasota/Manatee

Tamiami happenings: Two pieces of property on a stretch of Tamiami Trail near the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport are for sale.

An 8,496-square-foot retail center on property on the Tamiami Trail in Sarasota is for sale.
Image courtesy of SVN Commercial Advisory Group

The first is an 8,496-square-foot retail shopping center at 7782 North Tamiami Trail. The property sits on about half an acre and is made up of two buildings. According to one of the listing agents, Ben Chambers of the SVN Commercial Advisory Group, the first building is 6,096 square feet and at the corner of Tamiami Trail and Scott Avenue. Pamaro Shop Furniture currently occupies the downstairs and will close after the sale. And there is a vacant apartment upstairs. The second building is 2,400 square feet and connected by a west lot being used as a secondary showroom. The asking price: $2.69 million. Manatee County property records show it has been owned by a single individual since 1976.

The second property is right next door at 7778 Westmoreland Drive. The two-story building is occupied by Manatee County’s health department on the first floor and a renter in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment on the second. The property, scheduled to be officially listed May 22, is being marketed as an investment property, says Chambers. Manatee is amid a five-year lease with a five-year option the county is expected to exercise. As for the apartment, the rent for the one-year leases is backed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Basically, both are government subsidized tenants,” says Chambers. “Which is great for any sort of investor to come in, because it's guaranteed mailbox money.” The asking price will be $1.1 million. According to county records, it owned by Rent to Own of Sarasota Inc.


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author

Louis Llovio

Louis Llovio is the deputy managing editor at the Business Observer. Before going to work at the Observer, the longtime business writer worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Maryland Daily Record and for the Baltimore Sun Media Group. He lives in Tampa.

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