The Shriteh family, among Punta Gorda\u2019s largest private employers, joined GCM Contracting Solutions on Dec. 5 to break ground on Duffie North, a 10-acre commercial development at the Airport Commerce Center that will add 108,000 square feet of flex warehouse space to Charlotte County\u2019s growing industrial corridor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project consists of two state-of-the-art warehouse facilities situated across from the three-story building that houses the Shriteh family\u2019s corporate offices under Zahra LLC and the King of Vape warehouse and distribution center. The expansion reflects rising demand for modern industrial space in Southwest Florida as companies seek larger, more efficient facilities with proximity to both Interstate 75 and Punta Gorda Airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Members of the Shriteh family gather with project partners at the Dec. 5 groundbreaking for Duffie North, a 10-acre commercial development in Punta Gorda. The project will add 108,000 square feet of flex warehouse space to the Airport Commerce Center.<\/p>\n
McKenna Wherry<\/p>\n
\u201cDuffie North represents our commitment to providing modern, flexible warehouse space that meets the evolving needs of businesses in Southwest Florida,\u201d said Robert Brown, founder and CEO of GCM Contracting Solutions. \u201cWith Punta Gorda\u2019s growing infrastructure and proximity to the airport, companies can operate efficiently, reduce costs and tap into a skilled local workforce. We\u2019re proud to support the region\u2019s ongoing economic growth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Charlotte County Economic Development Director Kay Tracy said the timing of the project aligns with long-term workforce and business expansion trends. \u201cThis project comes at a pivotal time. Duffie North gives employers the room they need as our workforce expands and positions Charlotte County to continue attracting high-quality business activity,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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A street-level rendering depicts the Duffie North warehouse buildings to be built by GCM Contracting Solutions. The development offers modern industrial space near Punta Gorda Airport and Interstate 75.<\/p>\n
GCM Contracting Solutions<\/p>\n
The groundbreaking ceremony also highlighted the Shriteh Foundation\u2019s philanthropy. Taher Shriteh \u2014 family patriarch and founder and CEO of Zahra LLC \u2014 presented $30,000 in charitable donations before the ceremony, awarding $20,000 to Habitat for Humanity and $10,000 to Pastor Larry Grant\u2019s Awaken Outreach Center. \u201cFor more than 25 years, this community has been our home,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve built our lives and businesses here, and we want to give back in ways that strengthen Charlotte County for the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Taher and Haitham Shriteh present a $20,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity before the Duffie North groundbreaking ceremony. The gift was part of $30,000 in contributions from the Shriteh Foundation.<\/p>\n
McKenna Wherry<\/p>\n
Shriteh\u2019s path to entrepreneurship spans continents, beginning in Gaza, where he was born in 1960. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural mechanization with honors from Cairo University in 1983 and was accepted into a mechanical engineering master\u2019s program at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Milwaukee in 1984. Financial constraints brought him back to Gaza in 1986, where a chance encounter with Reuters correspondent Paul Taylor led him into journalism. Shriteh contributed reports from Gaza \u2014 then rarely covered by foreign media \u2014 and went on to write for outlets including The New York Times, BBC, CBS News and Voice of America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As violence toward journalists escalated, Shriteh and his wife, Zahra, both college-educated, fled the Middle East with their four children. He said their transition to the U.S. was eased by savings from the sale of their apartment building, which he brought with him to invest in a new life. He recalled telling an immigration official that he intended to contribute to the nation\u2019s wealth and create jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Zahra LLC founder and CEO Taher Shriteh works from his Punta Gorda headquarters. Shriteh, a longtime local employer, says the Duffie North project will create 200 new jobs in Charlotte County.<\/p>\n
Daisy Gonzalez-Diego\/DGD Communications<\/p>\n
\u201cI love America,\u201d he said during his remarks, expressing deep gratitude to both the U.S. and the people of Charlotte County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shriteh\u2019s first business in Punta Gorda was Tom\u2019s Discount Convenience Store on Cooper Street, a one-stop shop modeled after Walmart that remains in operation. He later purchased one of Southwest Florida\u2019s earliest vape stores, predicting the shift toward vaping products. That prediction proved prescient: the family will soon open its 20th King of Vape location, this one on U.S. 41 in Port Charlotte, which will also sell merchandise such as e-bikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Family involvement has been central to the company\u2019s expansion. His son Haitham, who holds a master\u2019s degree in engineering, oversees the distribution center adjoining the headquarters, where Shriteh can view operations from his conference room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
True to his early promise to create jobs, Shriteh said the Duffie North project alone will generate 200 new positions in Charlotte County \u2014 a testament to both the family\u2019s continued investment and the region\u2019s accelerating economic momentum.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Shriteh family, among Punta Gorda\u2019s largest private employers, joined GCM Contracting Solutions on Dec. 5 to break…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,853,42936,42938,14484,42937],"class_list":{"0":"post-75924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-cape-coral","9":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","10":"tag-cape-coral-news","11":"tag-charlotte-county","12":"tag-duffie-north","13":"tag-gcm-contracting-solutions","14":"tag-punta-gorda","15":"tag-shriteh-family"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}