Naples’ Business Boom

The commercial real estate market is booming in Southwest Florida. Joining us now to talk about some of the latest developments currently underway. Matt Simmons property appraiser and partner with Maxwell Hendry and Simmons. Thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate it. Thanks for. Having me. Now I have learned, news that we have a flagship hotel coming to Southwest Florida that is not on the beach. It will not have a golf course. And that is unusual. What is going on? Yeah, it is that sounds hard to believe, but a J.W. Marriott is coming to Naples and it's coming on the East Trail, in Naples. So, it's an unexpected location. Not in downtown, but, I think their, their aim there is they're planning to be able to host conferences, and have, a corporate environment that draws people building off of the draw that Naples is naturally, but in a, self-contained location where they can accommodate, meetings and events and still allow, hotel guests to visit everything else that Naples has to offer. And you mentioned it possibly could be to draw on international corporations, businesses, conferences to Southwest Florida, because we're seeing signs with the Sunseeker more than doubling their conference and meeting space. We have the Luminary Hotel, which also is aiming to host more conferences, really making our area a destination for these international, business meetings, which is really a big boost to our area. It is. And prior to the luminary, planning a flag in downtown Fort Myers, we were really vastly underserved for meeting and conference space that could accommodate mid-size, you know, corporate retreats, industry conferences. We're never going to be like Las Vegas, Nashville, you know, some of the major conference markets. But for mid-sized companies, Southwest Florida is absolutely perfect. And we're now getting the real estate to accommodate that activity. I cannot believe that, another J.W. is coming to Collier County. Obviously, there's one down in Marcos. So they are very specific and pretty secretive about their site selection. But the fact that they've chosen Naples, it is significant. It is it's significant. It says a lot about Southwest Florida. Obviously. It says a lot about Naples and their recognition that Naples is, a recognizable brand. But it also says a lot about an area called the, gateway Bayshore Triangle in Naples, which is an area of redevelopment emphasis for Naples. There's been a lot of effort put into redeveloping that area. There's already a number of other projects that are taking place. But J.W. Marriott, I think is kind of the cherry on top that they've dropped into that location. And you were telling me about a new Chick-Fil-A that will be opening this year in Naples. And many of us love chick fil A. So tell us, tell me what's going on with this particular restaurant. And it's a little bit unique as well. It is. And what's unique about it is it's a larger store format, than they're putting in the most locations. So where it is, is down around 951 Collier Boulevard in I-75. It's an out parcel, in the city gate development and where that is, Paradise Coast Sports Complex, the great Wolf Lodge that just opened a couple years ago. This chick fil A is one of the out parcels there that fronts on 951. And it'll have a double drive thru. It's around 50 700ft². Most of their store formats, for new locations, are under 5000ft². And their inside seating capacity is also higher than what their typical, new store format is. So they're clearly drafting off of all of the activity at that interchange with traffic, but also all of the activity that they can get from both Paradise Coast and all of the, sporting activities that are being brought in there, the great. Wolf line right. Here. So it's perfect location and they're great at site selection. So it says a lot about, the growth potential in that corridor, that chick fil A's planning. And then moving up to Fort Myers at Colonial and Six Mile. Recently, the chick fil A opened I think it was the end of last year. We have a Starbucks. Those are drive thru only restaurants, which is a bit unique for our area. I know in urban settings it's pretty common, but this also signifies to you more more growth that they're capitalizing on. I think you mentioned 80,000 cars a day through that intersection. That's right. It's the most heavily trafficked intersection in southwest Florida. And so that section of colonial sees 80,000 cars a day. And so, you know, drive thru only locations are not a new concept. We've seen that, evolving from a lot of brands over the past 5 to 10 years where they're, you know, getting rid of literally the indoor seating. But it's new to Southwest Florida. And so these two, the chick fil A and the Starbucks that are only a couple of parcels away, both made that transition right away. Starbucks when they opened, they were only the third drive thru, only Starbucks in the country. And they planned that right here in Fort Myers. And chick fil A obviously had an existing store, but they, configured it to be drive thru only. So it's fascinating that you've got those two brands who certainly know what they're doing saying, we want to be here, but we also want to be here essentially with an express line. We want to get in and out. In and out, and there's the traffic to support it. And same with coffee lovers. There are multiple new coffee shops opening up, some that are private equity backed, and then we've got local ones, but they are really popping up in places we wouldn't normally see them. They are. They're popping up in locations. You know, infill redevelopment is what we call it. But they're sites that, you know, if you're driving out on the roads, it's been vacant for a while and you may not think why, but usually if you see in a heavily trafficked area a piece of property that's empty, it's empty for a reason. There's some sort of challenge with it. But these coffee brands, because of the type of stores that they build, oftentimes those sites work perfectly fine for them. And what they're really attracted to is the traffic. They don't need a big store format or hundreds of parking spaces. And so there's two coffee brands in particular, seven Brew and Coffee Rush, that are both operating with that kind of strategy. But there's plenty of others there's from Aroma Joe's. The list goes on on Urban Buzz, which that's what's wonderful. We've got a local, entrant, and I encourage people, you know, to support Urban Buzz because they've got a lot of outside, companies that are coming in the market. But Urban Buzz is homegrown. So, we want to support them. They have a new location that they're building in Fort Myers on 41. And that's brick and mortar to distinguish from these private equity backed, shops that are more kind of like a, I'm going to say pop up manufactured structure. Correct. They're not. Yeah. They're not permanent. They're not, in the way that they're built. They're, they're kind of manufactured or modular. So they can be built quickly. They're, they're perfect for just accommodating drive through traffic. But they're also and this is what makes them attractive, much less expensive to, to build. And so the cost basis for those operators is significantly less than, say, a brick and mortar location for urban busses. And so there's going to be winners and losers. I think, in, the coffee and drink space. And so we want to support obviously who's local, but it's fascinating to see all of these different brands dropping in the southwest Florida around the same. Time because they're noticing the growth, they're noticing the potential in our area economically. They are. Swig also opened. I know my 19 year old was just like, mom, swag has opened. And it's just I mean, Pat and it's what they call dirty soda. Yeah. And that's opening and it's, it's very popular. It is. I haven't made it over there yet, but I'm familiar. Yeah. With the space that they've taken. They're in the Publix Plaza and they're on the north, end of that plaza. And which is an interesting location. That's not a tremendous amount of frontage. I think they're dipping their toe in the water to potentially, get a read on Southwest Florida before they make a more permanent choice for us. So far, it's doing well from from what I can see. Yeah, on TikTok and Instagram. Right. That's the metric, right? That's, apparently it is these days. Yes. And then finally, Sweet Tomatoes. I know many of us are looking forward to Sweet Tomatoes reopening in Fort Myers. Any idea when that's going to happen? They haven't really announced specific timing. There was a group that essentially bought out kind of the the intellectual property behind Sweet Tomatoes, and looked at a brand that was victim to Covid, like many restaurant brands and said, hey, this worked. And maybe there's some modifications to what's being done, and we want to kind of launch it a little bit differently. But this is certainly something that works in Southwest Florida. And so they're bringing it back to life in select locations around the country. Fort Myers is obviously one of those. And, and I think they're going to be rewarded for that. Anything else you want to share with us today? I know there's a lot we could talk about, but, the fact that we've got this J.W. opening, and these other, chick fil A's, it's it's really, really a cool thing to see. I think the central theme is, the market is changing here. It's changing because of the growth. The growth is is inevitable. The growth also funds, what we need more of in the community road projects to accommodate traffic. And it happens at certain inflection points in population. So several years back, we, back, Lee and Collier crossed over, the million population mark. And that's kind of a marker for brands like, like Wawa and others. That's around the time when they dropped into the market. Well, for Lee Collier in Charlotte, we're right around that million five territory. And that's another trick point for certain retailers to say, hey, that's a market we want to be in. So the so the way that this works and the brands that we see, there's kind of a science behind all of it. And that's really just what we're seeing is the evolution of that as we're on our path to growth. And you mentioned the infrastructure. And I reminded the Chick-Fil-A in Naples, I think they paid upwards of $700,000 in impact fees just to build on this small site. So there are fees being paid to assist with. That significant fees that you're you're right. It was, $750,000 in impact fees alone, and 650,000 of that is for road impact fees. So whenever we see these new projects and we, of course recognize that they increase traffic and they have impact, we can just rest assured that there's a fair share being paid, fees that contribute toward accommodating that growth. Great information. Thank you so much for sharing it with us and we will have you back again. Appreciate it. Thank you so much, Matt Simmons.