Even without having a real estate brokerage office in Collier County, LSI Companies has had a foothold there over the past 25 years. With eight properties currently on the market at a combined asking price of about $74 million, CEO Justin Thibaut said expanding with a third office there made sense.
This week, LSI will be celebrating the opening of its third office, the only one dedicated to brokering properties in Collier County. At 851 Fifth Ave. N., the 1,186-square-foot space is adjacent to the downtown Naples commercial core, which is central to conducting business in Collier. LSI has its Southwest Florida headquarters in south Fort Myers and also has an office in Punta Gorda, focusing on Charlotte County.
“Collier County is not a strange market to us,” said Thibaut, who became CEO in 2021. “We’ve been there for a long time. But having a physical presence there, not only is it better for our clients, but it’s better for our market research and knowledge of what’s going on in the area. Just having boots on the ground in the area, clearly leads to more transactions for our company.”
During the past five years, LSI Companies has brokered more than $870 million worth of transactions, the company said. Thibaut has helped account for more than $619 million of those transactions since 2021.
With redevelopment opportunities west of Interstate 75 and vacant land available for development east of I-75, Collier remains a vibrant market across all sectors, Thibaut said. He pointed to two recent transactions east of the interstate, a $5 million Orange Blossom commercial piece and a $6.8 million Orange Blossom residential piece. More deals like that are in the works, especially off Oil Well Road, he said.
“Orange Blossom is a great example of what we’ve done in Collier County already,” Thibaut said. “We worked on that project for over 10 years. From an agricultural piece to a single-family residential community to most recently, a commercial outparcel retail deal, as well as a multifamily component there. Oil Well Road is the perfect example of transitional land where development’s happening.”
Alexis North, CCIM, will be the team leader for the Naples office. She has been with LSI since 2018 as a sales and research associate.
“The real estate desirability in Collier County is unrivaled, and we expect developers, investors and builders will have our region on their radar for many years to come,” Thibaut said. “We currently have nearly 3,000 acres of property in Collier in our pipeline, and we see no signs of the market slowing anytime soon.”
