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The owner of Coca-Cola Florida has purchased the nearly 482,000-square-foot Highland Commerce Center in south Fort Myers for $65 million.<\/p>\n
David Dorsey
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The industrial real estate market in Lee County received a jolt with Coca-Cola Florida\u2019s parent company paying $65 million for Highland Commerce Center, a warehouse that\u2019s bigger than eight football fields.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CF RE VI LLC, a company owned by Houston-based Cardinal System Holdings LLC, which owns Coca-Cola Florida, bought the 481,933-square-foot warehouse at 16500 Oriole Road in mid-September for about $135 per square foot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The building, which has 96 dock doors, 138 trailer parking spaces and office space inside, has sat vacant since being completed in 2024. Property records show the previous owner, HCC Fort Myers LLC, paid $11.5 million for about 33.5 vacant acres in August 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The 481,933-square-foot Highland Commerce Center at 16500 Oriole Road in south Fort Myers has 96 dock doors and 138 trailer parking spaces. The warehouse had remained vacant since its completion in 2024.<\/p>\n
David Dorsey<\/p>\n
Derek Bornhorst and Adam Bornhorst of CBRE brokered the deal, but they signed a nondisclosure agreement and were not able to comment. The seller, HSA Commercial Real Estate in Chicago, could not be reached for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara-Ashley Moreno, general counsel and director of operations at Cardinal System Holdings, said, \u201cI\u2019m not able to discuss at this time but appreciate the call.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coca-Cola Florida currently uses a distribution center of about 61,000 square feet at 10051 Alico Road, which is 2.7 miles away and on the other side of Interstate 75 from the new building. The new warehouse is almost eight times the size of the current one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Highland Commerce Center at 16500 Oriole Road in south Fort Myers was purchased for $65 million by a company owned by Cardinal System Holdings LLC, which owns Coca-Cola Florida. The 481,933-square-foot warehouse was completed in 2024.<\/p>\n
David Dorsey<\/p>\n
According to Coca-Cola Florida\u2019s website, the Fort Myers distribution center delivers 6.7 million cases of products each year across the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The industrial vacancy rate in Lee County recently eclipsed the 10% mark, said Matt Simmons, managing partner of Maxwell, Hendry & Simmons. It is about 10.1%, according to CoStar data.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Highland Commerce Center is fully used, that alone will move the needle,\u201d Simmons said before doing the math and finding the project would make a significant difference for the entire region. \u201cIf Highland Commerce Center was also just leased up by a single tenant, then our vacancy rate would drop to 9.6%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how significant that project is from the size standpoint.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Three years ago, industrial deals were hot across the region and going for between $170 and $190 per square foot, Simmons said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis price is lower than the slew of industrial sales that we saw going back three years,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThere\u2019s opportunity at the moment. You\u2019re able to buy at prices that were completely out of reach in 2024.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justin Thibaut, president and CEO of LSI Companies, wasn\u2019t involved with the deal, but he noted the price per square foot was lower than what he would have expected upon the building\u2019s completion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to see this transact and absorb some vacancy in the Alico industrial submarket,\u201d Thibaut said. \u201cIt\u2019s yet another example of high-end industrial users seeking proximity to I-75 and easy access to the entire region. I wouldn\u2019t expect to see many more transactions in this price per square foot range for new product, but this is a great buy for the user.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of about 46 million square feet of industrial space in the region, about 3.2 million square feet remains vacant.\u00a0<\/p>\n