- March 23, 2025
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This spring, east Manatee County-based Benderson Development, one of the largest commercial real estate landlords in the country with holdings in 40 states, has one big project closer to home: it is opening four buildings on an industrial campus it built from scratch off Interstate 75 in North Port, in south Sarasota County.
Officials with the city and company say the project, the North Port Business Park, is a “game-changer” for the region, where some have lamented for years that North Port is often overlooked, in economic development buzz, in comparison to the city of Sarasota.
Providing more than half a million square feet of industrial space, the new buildings are expected to attract hundreds of jobs and a slew of companies to the area.
“We offer something that nobody else offers,” says Mark Curran, director of industrial, office and warehouse for Benderson’s Southeast division.
North Port Business Park features 30-foot-high loading areas and tilt-wall construction. Each building has 4,000 amps of power, Curran says, plus “unparalleled” access to the interstate. The property is just off Toledo Blade Boulevard near the I-75 exit.
Benderson Development, with a headquarters in University Park, handles construction for the project rather than hiring an outside general contractor, according to Curran.
“We're very vertically integrated,” he says. “We have our own architecture department.”
So far, Benderson Development has put about $60 million into the project, not including land value, to create a product designed for “big, national companies,” Curran says.
The four new buildings — called Phase 2 of North Port Business Park — total 535,000 square feet.
About 80,000 square feet — some 15% — has already been pre-leased, Curran says, a sign of the demand. Three tenants have pre-leased spaces: Lansing Building Products, Wharton-Smith Construction Group and World Electric Supply.
“Florida in general has been gangbusters,” Curran says. “Our boss says, whatever we can do in Florida, we'll do….He'll roll the dice any place — especially if it makes sense from an interstate standpoint and hopefully from a cost standpoint.”
Adds Curran: “Costs are tough right now. Building costs have gone through the roof. We could have done this 10 years ago for half, but we will continue to build.”
The new buildings opening in April will attract about 400 to 500 employees, according to Curran.
“We're guessing 1,500 [jobs will be created] by the time it's all done,” Curran says of North Port Business Park.
The business park sits on about 100 acres Benderson Development purchased about 20 years ago, Curran says, and it began developing the property in the last several years.
Phase 1 of the business park includes two buildings, each about 142,500 square feet.
“The first two buildings essentially are leased,” Curran says.
Current tenants include CDS Logistics, Fastenal, BLOK Holding, Euro-Wall, Storm Smart, Town & Country Industries, Daikin, Bayonet and Edmonson Electric, among others.
When complete — with two more buildings on the horizon, each 100,000 square feet — Curran says the complex will contain more than 1 million square feet of industrial and office space.
The development is making Sarasota County an option for companies looking to scale up, according to economic development officials.
“Benderson Development's continued investment in high-quality, modern business park space is a game changer for businesses in North Port and Sarasota County,” Josh Ewen, vice president of economic development services for the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County, says in a statement.
The business park “will provide new opportunities for those businesses seeking to grow and expand with diverse, skilled, high-wage job opportunities for area residents,” Ewen says.
About 90% of people who live in North Port commute outside the city for work, says Vinnie Mascarenhas, North Port’s business and attraction and development administrator.
One goal of North Port Business Park is to create more jobs close to people’s homes.
“None of these companies really were here,” Curran says of the tenants. “These are newcomers” to the area.
Benderson has partners when it comes to marketing its space. City officials and economic development personnel are both acting as liaisons to get the word out about North Port Business Park.
“We'll go jointly with the city of North Port staff to manufacturing conferences, for example…to attract companies to come here,” Sarasota EDC President and CEO Erin Silk says following a recent tour of the business park with local officials.
“We're very connected to our target industries here locally, and as they're looking for space to grow, we'll be able to connect them in with Benderson and help them along," Silk says.
Target industries for the EDC include technology, manufacturing and logistics, life science, film and creative, financial services and headquarters.
Some manufacturers might be looking to grow from 25 to 100 employees, Silk says, and may need a facility around 100,000 square feet.
“It doesn't exist in Sarasota County, except for [North Port Business Park],” Silk says. "That's why it's so important…We want to have the space — and we do — in Sarasota County.”
