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Centrally located properties may become power center
A New York developer plans to rejuvenate a collection of retail buildings along U.S. 41 in Fort Myers - perhaps for a power center such as Page Field Commons.
ORBIS Properties on Wednesday bought the 17 structures originally assembled by the late Charlie Johnston, a landlord known as "The Rental Man" who made millions leasing out retail space.
The properties - including Old America Center and Dragon Plaza with tenants including Honey Baked Ham and Goodwill - were purchased for $15.8 million from a trust for the survivors of Johnston, who died in 1998.
Charles Gabler, a principal in ORBIS, said that as the buildings are, "There isn't much rhyme or reason to their locations. The first step is to do a market study and some design analysis. We hope in six to nine months to develop a plan and integrate the properties."
ORBIS bought the buildings because they're in an area that has seen a lot of success recently, such as Page Field Commons, anchored by the likes of Best Buy and PetsMart, and a thriving center at College Parkway and Cleveland to the south, Gabler said.
Wayne Daltry, Lee County's Smart Growth director, said that with its access and parking problems the area is ripe for redevelopment.
"I've used Dragon Plaza as a poster child if we can rebuild with multi-use" such as apartments on top of commercial buildings, he said.
Rodney Fidler Jr. of Fidler Real Estate Services, which represented the buyers and is now handling leasing, said the situation with the Rental Man properties "is pretty typical of an area that's been in existence for quite a number of years. You run out of places for new development so you have to start considering places for redevelopment."
Page Field Commons wasn't developed until 1999 because the property was part of the airport and wasn't available, but other than that the area has long been largely built out, he said. "There are no large vacant properties on 41 now; pretty much you have to redevelop what's existing."
Sale is year’s biggest deal in Lee
The Rental Man properties probably will need some aesthetic changes and rehabilitation of existing structures and "possibly some new buildings," he said.
Brian Tunnell of Coldwell Banker Commercial, who represented the Johnston trust, said selling the property was a challenge because in today's real estate markets, it's an unusual package - 237,000 square feet and only seven tenants with 5,000 square feet or more.
"When you look at the underlying value, the acreage, the frontage on 41, there's some tremendous underlying value there," he said. "But it takes someone with deep pockets" to take on the job.
The sale is the year's biggest retail transaction in Lee County, he noted - and more than the $15 million the Coralwood Mall went for last year.
“When you look at the underlying value, the acreage, the frontage on 41, there’s some tremendous underlying value there.”
- Brian Tunnel
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Two longtime tenants said the location has been good for them.
"It's been good for about 20 years, no complaints," said Robert Garrett, who runs a Subway that his parents started 20 years ago there. "We're hoping they do a little bit of work, maybe try to increase parking to a degree."
Rick Snyderman of Snyderman's Shoes, also a 20-year tenant, said his family-owned store is moving to its own 24,000-square-foot plaza that it built just south of the Rental Man properties on Trailwinds Drive. "We'll be moving out of there within a year or so."
But the move is being made only because Snyderman couldn't work out an expansion deal, he said. "We originally wanted to enlarge but we couldn't work it out."
Daltry said that with all their faults the Rental Man properties - 93 percent leased out at present - work because they're in an area with a central location and a lot of traffic.
"It's not a poster child for smart," he said, "but it's a poster child for quick. It fulfilled a need."
(Copyright 2003 The News Press)
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