EQT Exeter Pays $87M for Fort Myers Industrial Campus

EQT Exeter has purchased a 500,000-square-foot industrial campus in Fort Myers, Fla., for $87 million, according to CommercialEdge. Stonemont Financial Group, in partnership with Geis Development, sold Legacy at Oriole Road.

KBS Advisors Managing Partner Hassan Mahmood represented the seller during negotiations. This deal comes just two months after Stonemont sold another asset in Tampa, Fla., for $50 million.

The 34-acre Legacy at Oriole has two buildings, each measuring 250,000 square feet. Features include 32-foot clear heights, ESFR systems, LED lighting, 16 dock-high doors per building and 24 grade-level doors in total. Additionally, the property includes 170 trailer parking spots and ample vehicle parking spaces.,

Located at 16670 and 16680 Oriole Road, the campus is less than a mile from Interstate 75, allowing east access to the Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Fla., metros. Southwest Florida International Airport is 6 miles away while Cape Coral and downtown Fort Myers are both within 14 miles of the property.

Stonemont and Geis Development completed the Class A industrial campus in the second quarter of 2023, with aid from a $45.5 million construction loan provided by Fifth Third Bank, CommercialEdge shows. Last year, the owners signed a full-building lease with an unnamed tenant. The other building is also fully occupied by two other tenants.

Southwest Florida’s vacancy rate increases

Leasing activity in Southwest Florida’s industrial market dropped 51 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis through March, according to a recent Cushman & Wakefield report. On par with national industrial market trends, vacancy continued to rise to 5.1 percent—which was the highest point since 2015, the same report shows.

In October last year, a joint venture between Glenstar Logistics and Columnar Investments sold an 818,000-square-foot industrial park in Fort Myers. Dubbed Tri-County 75, the campus was 95 percent leased at the time of the transaction.