Even one of the wealthiest men in the U.S. will have to wait on building a planned apartment project in North Fort Myers. 

Billionaire Stan Kroenke, owner of the Los Angeles Rams football team and worth about $16.2 billion, according to Forbes, partly owns almost 20 acres on the west side of U.S. 41 in North Fort Myers. 

The undeveloped land, sandwiched between Diplomat Parkway to the south and Littleton Road to the north, at 15781 N. Cleveland Ave. sold for $2.6 million in February 2023.  

“We are in redesign right now,” said Ian Slavin, owner of Mivo Development Group, also a part-owner. “If the buildings were ready to go, we would be ready to go. We’d love to be out of the ground by the end of this year.” 

Slavin projected an 18-month construction process, meaning it could be 2026 or early 2027 by the time construction is completed. 

KQ NFM LLC is the owner of record. That company is comprised of several investment groups, including one owned by Kroenke, said Rod Jones, managing partner of Quadrant Communities, which is based in St. Louis, where the Rams used to play before Kroenke moved the team to California. 

Quadrant Communities is part of the ownership group, Jones said. 

Mivo Development Group, based in Boca Raton, will be hands on in building the 284-unit, luxury apartment complex. 

“Mivo is a new entity that was created three years ago,” Slavin said. “This will likely be the first Mivo project to come out of the ground.” 

The land price factored into the group’s decision to build there, Slavin said. That $2.6 million amounts to just less than $10,000 per apartment unit, a premium price compared to other regional areas, such as Estero, Bonita Springs and Naples, Slavin said. 

“I love it,” Slavin said of North Fort Myers. “It’s a growing area. I love that it’s between Cape Coral and downtown Fort Myers. You can easily access [Interstate 75] and Punta Gorda. I always hear the area is blighted, but I don’t see it as such. It’s a fantastic location.” 

Kroenke’s involvement has generated some extra interest for the project, Slavin said. 

“We’ve got a lot of questions floating around,” Slavin said. “Market type questions. Construction costs, interest rates, rental rates. They’ve been extremely volatile.” 

Jones said he was grateful for Slavin’s involvement, given his proximity in Florida. 

“He’s on the ground,” Jones said. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s got experience. We just think that’s an underserved community. 

“I think in 10 years, people are going to look around and say, ‘Why didn’t we see this coming? The change that’s coming to North Fort Myers. The state’s growing. There are very few pockets where you can come in and buy land. People are going to wake up and say they wish they bought a house there instead of Naples.” 

Kroenke could not be reached for comment. Jones said Kroenke rarely does interviews, as he’s involved in hundreds of projects. 

“He’s a very hands-on guy,” said Jones, who has known Kroenke for 37 years. “He’s very aware of his projects. He understands it. But like I said, they’re doing projects all over the country. 

“We plan to break ground in the fourth quarter of this year. Because building has slowed down significantly, we think we’ll be coming online at just a really great time.” 

The big three single-family home builders, Lennar, Pulte and D.R. Horton, each have communities being built or planned in North Fort Myers, meaning Kroenke’s group isn’t alone, said Matt Simmons, a property appraiser with Maxwell, Hendry and Simmons in Fort Myers. 

“My guess is that Stan Kroenke’s staff has money allocated in so many different directions, it’s probably difficult to keep track of,” Simmons said. “I would expect that he participates as an investor in projects all over the place. And that he probably hasn’t spent too much of his downtime personally thinking about, ‘Do I want to build an apartment complex in North Fort Myers?’ 

“It’s one of the last places in central Lee County where you can actually get land and put people in units that are proximate to commercial services and other support facilities.” 

Simmons explained why the project would be “luxury” even despite the more affordable land price. 

“Luxury at times is happening out of necessity rather than by choice,” Simmons said. “The building code is such that it’s pretty difficult to build product that’s not at luxury rate. The cost with any product to go vertical is such that if you add certain bells and whistles, it’s such a small amount of additional cost, that you want to create a more of an upscale sense of the project.” 

Jones said North Fort Myers deserves this type of a project. 

“I think that North Fort Myers is one of the best opportunities in Florida,” Jones said. “It’s affordable. You can get in there. You can’t go buy land in a lot of places in Florida and make the numbers work. Not everyone can live in Naples or Fort Myers. 

“We’re going to build a first-class project. People want to live in Florida. The dynamics are there. 

“We like the site, because we can build our typical layout. Three stories. A workout and yoga room. We’re going to have a large pool.  We tend to go over the top with the amenities.”