Plant City approves 3.4M-square-foot, 410-acre industrial project

Naples, Fort Myers and Charlotte

Winchester Center in Naples is fully leased. The 60,000-square foot retail center in the works at Immokalee Road and Orange Tree Boulevard signed the last two tenants — That NY Bagel Place and Family Foot and Leg Center — ahead of its scheduled opening later this year. The two new tenants join a roster that already includes a 22,650-square-foot Sunshine Ace Hardware store, which will the anchor; Little Caesars Pizza; Anytime Fitness; Heartland Dental; Luxury Nails: Cold Stone Creamery; Orangetree Hibachi & Sushi; and Marutos Cuban Café and Bakery. The center is being built by Barron Collier Cos., which announced the last two leases, and Metro Commercial Development Group. In addition to the restaurants and retailers, the developers plan to bring a three-story, temperature controlled self-storage facility, as well as a two-story NCH Immediate Care and Physician Offices to Winchester Center. And, Barron Collier says, the previously announced Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida has secured $1.75 million in state funding to build a 19,967-square-foot facility in the center. It will offer pediatric, adult and senior care, obstetrics and gynecology services, dental care and other service as well as a drive thru pharmacy for underserved communities.

A Bonita Springs office building has sold. The one-story property at 3376 Woods Edge Circle was boughtby the Barkley Healthcare Group, according to the local firm Premier Commercial. It paid $1.38 million for it A LoopNet profile of the building shows it was built in 2001 and is 5,846 square feet. The previous owner was Leone Holdings and Haidar Inc. Barkley, which has an office at 31 Barkley Circle in Fort Myers, specializes in neuropathy treatments. Premier’s Matt Stepan and W.T. Pearson negotiated the sale.

Tampa, St. Petersburg, Pasco and Polk

Plant City commissioners unanimously OK'd the construction of a 3.4 million-square-foot light industrial and warehouse distribution center last week. The Stalwart Business Park, with plans for nine buildings when fully constructed, will be built on about 410 acres along Paul Buchman Highway, south of Half Mile Road and north of Knights Griffin Road. The property is next to an active CSX rail line. According to a statement from the developer, Stalwart Equities, the site also leverages natural gas, electric supply and water capacity capabilities allowing it to expand its potential pool of users to include a 150-megawatt data center and cold storage facility with dedicated rail service. Stalwart says it is already in discussions with at least one prospective tenant to take 400,000 square feet. A spokesperson for the developer says construction is expected to begin in October and be completed in mid-2027. The spokesperson would not disclose the cost of the project, saying the information was proprietary. Brooklyn-based Stalwart Equities was founded in 2016 and has a portfolio valued at $700 million. The company says it focuses is on infill markets, especially locations near ports and densely populated regions. 

Image courtesy of JLL

Foot Locker, which recently signed a lease to move its global headquarters to St. Petersburg, is likely to be under new ownership by the end of the year: Sporting goods giant Dick’s Sporting Goods announced last week that it had agreed to buy the Fortune 500 retailer in a deal worth $2.4 billion, according to a statement. (The acquisition, subject to regulatory and Foot Locker shareholder approval, is expected to close in the second half of 2025, the statement adds.) It was not immediately clear what the sale meant for Foot Locker’s planned move this fall to St. Petersburg, but the Pittsburgh retail giant says it a statement that it would operate Foot Locker as a standalone business. Foot Locker announced in August that it planned to move its global headquarters to St. Pete from New York. The decision came about three years after the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County committed to nearly $500,000 in incentives to lure the company. Foot Locker signed a lease in March for an 110,998-square-foot space in the city’s Carillon Business Park. The space is at 570 Carillon, an office building just off Roosevelt Boulevard, about a mile from Interstate 275. Neither Foot Locker nor the building’s landlord, The Feil Organization, responded to questions about the move given the pending sale. 

Sarasota and Manatee

Courtesy image

McLeod Land Services has bought an office building in Lakewood Ranch and will make it the company’s headquarters. The building at 7349 Merchant Court sold for $3.42 million. The previous owner was a Sarasota LLC that paid $4.65 million for it in 2023. According to the American Property Group of Sarasota, which brokered and announced the deal, the building underwent an extensive interior and exterior renovation in 2023. The firm says it has “dozens of private offices,” conference and training areas, a breakroom/kitchen, 58 on-site parking spots and a large server room. The second level is air-conditioned and reserved for storage. Sarasota based McLeod was founded in 1991 and specializes in site development. The company says on its website that it employs more than 190 and has a fleet of more than 30 on-road dump trucks. Its current office is at 7405 28th Street Court East. It is not immediately clear if McLeod will keep some operations there or when it will move into the new building. American Property Group’s Adam Doak brokered the sale. 

Neuage Health & Wellness, a doctor-led wellness chain, is opening its first Florida location Sarasota. The 1,506-square-foot center will be in the Fruitville Commons shopping center in a space previously occupied by a chiropractor’s office. ERES Co., the commercial real estate firm which represented the wellness company and announced the lease, says Neuage signed a lease for the space earlier this month. This will be the St. Louis-based company’s sixth location. The others are in Missouri, Alabama and Kansas, though it has plans to expand in the Midwest and Southeast. Fruitville Commons is mixed-use development off Fruitville Road near Interstate 75. Among its current tenants are F45 Training, Dunkin' and Venus Med Spa. ERES’ Chris DiBitetto represented the company in the deal.

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