- July 19, 2025
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Firm’s client looks to buy high-end properties
A high dollar buyer is in search of Southwest Florida properties. TD Commercial Group’s Symonette-Whelan Team is sending out marketing materials letting other brokers and property owners know that it has a “high net worth” client looking to buy in Fort Myers and Naples. The team would not disclose who the buyer is or share details only saying in an email to the Business Observer that the client is a “very private individual.” So, what is the individual looking for? Investment grade single tenant “trophy assets” including grocery stores, medical buildings and CVS locations — not Walgreens — with triple net leases. The properties need to be priced between $5 million and $15 million with a cap rate above 5%. In addition to Fort Myers and Naples, the buyer is interested in properties in other populous Florida markets, including Tampa. St. Petersburg, Orlando and South Florida. Symonette-Whelan says the buyer has no interest in Daytona, Jacksonville or the Panhandle.
Apartment building to be converted to affordable housing community
A downtown Clearwater apartment building has been sold and will be converted into an affordable housing community. The 208-unit building at 801 Chestnut Street was bought by Sunrise Affordable Housing Group last week for $25.5 million. The company plans to spend about $25 million more on a major renovation of the building, a project that will include elevator modernization, a new roof, new hurricane-impact windows, new HVAC equipment, unit upgrades and new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant units. The work is set to start immediately and take about a year to complete a spokesperson says. Units in the building will be for residents earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income, roughly $25,020 to $66,720 a year for a two-person household. The conversion returns the building to its original use. For 50 years it was known as Prospect Towers and provided affordable housing for seniors in the city. It was sold in 2020 for $16 million to a Nashville developer that rebranded it as a market-rate community named The Indigo. The spokesperson says that through this sale and an agreement with Pinellas County, the property will be placed in the Pinellas County Land Trust, which will permanently preserve all units as affordable housing. As for current residents of the building, it is expected that a large portion have incomes that will qualify and relocation for those who don’t will happen over the course of the next 12 months. Sunrise, which has offices in Palm Beach and Toronto, is a real estate investment and management firm focused on housing communities serving low income, elderly and disabled individuals and families.
Oakes sells industrial property
The Naples food provider Meals of Hope has bought an industrial building from Oakes Farm. The 18,271-square-foot property is at 4176 Mercantile Ave. CRE Consultants, which represented the local MAGA firebrand Alfie Oakes’ farm operation in the deal, says it sold for $6.5 million. Oakes Farm paid $3.32 million for the property in 2017. A LoopNet profile of the building shows it has 9,200 square feet of cold storage and an additional 1,917 square feet of storage on the second floor. There is a 4,200-square-foot warehouse, along with office space totaling 2,667 square feet. Meals of Hope packs meals distributed to families and individuals in need. As for Oakes, he is a controversial conservative politician who in addition to owning the farm operation owns Seed-to-Table, a farm market on Immokalee Road in Naples that openly embraces the MAGA movement. CRE Consultants Dave and David Wallace represented Oakes. Jacques Groenteman of John R Wood Properties represented Meals of Hope.
National developer moves into Tampa with $135 million in deals
The Arizona and Texas-based real estate investment and development firm Creation has broken into the Tampa market in a big way. The firm last week announced two deals totaling $135 million and opened an East Coast office near downtown. The first deal is the purchase of a 20-acre site near Tampa International Airport with two office buildings on it. Creation, along with Clarion Partners, paid $30 million for the property at 5301 and 5319 W. Idlewild Avenue last year. The plan is to tear down the two buildings, which total 176,000 square feet, and redevelop the site as a $75 million industrial complex with three new buildings and more than 300,000 square feet of logistics space. A spokesperson says details on the construction schedule will be announced later this year. There are few details available about the second project. What Creation says is that it is in escrow on a vacant site in East Tampa, where it plans to build a $60 million, three building logistics park. Creation, based in Phoenix and Dallas, says it has $4.4 billion in active development projects across eight states. In Florida, it is “actively pursuing” projects in South Florida, Orlando, Fort Myers and Jacksonville. The firm’s Tampa office is at 442 W. Kennedy Blvd., across from the University of Tampa.
Nursery operation up for sale
Have you ever thought of buying a nursery? Here’s your chance. Central Florida Integrated Nursery in Polk County is on the market. The 29-acre property is at 1698 Rucks Dairy Road in Frostproof. The Lakeland brokerage firm Saunders Land says the nursery is currently operating as a citrus nursery but is flexible enough to accommodate other agricultural uses. That includes ornamental nurseries, medical marijuana and fruit and vegetable propagation. Saunders’ listing shows that the nursery has about 270,578 square feet of space under cover and that there are a “multitude of other structures and equipment” on the property along with a large cafeteria-style break room, bathrooms and a locker room. It is surrounded by a wind break of eucalyptus trees to protect the structures from hurricanes and high wind events. The firm says a manager’s home and additional acreage can be added to the offering if a buyer is interested. The asking price is $12.5 million. Saunders’ David Hitchcock and Zeb Griffin are the brokers listing the property.
Builders adding nearly 200 houses to master-planned community
A new Wellen Park subdivision will bring 181 more houses to the North Port master-planned community. The new houses will be in a neighborhood named Oakbend and built by Daytona-based ICI Home and luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers. (Toll Brothers announced its portion of the Oakbend project earlier this year.) Wellen Park says the subdivision will be made up of one- and two-story houses ranging is size from about 2,100 square feet to over 3,800 square feet. Sales are expected to start later this year, with prices for the houses starting in the high $600,000 range. In addition to the houses, Oakbend will have a pool, fitness center, pickleball courts, clubhouse with social lounge, playground and bocce courts for residents. Wellen Park is being built in south Sarasota County on 11,000 acres, including 7,000 acres of undeveloped land, and when fully built will have 22,000 homes and more than 60,000 residents.
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