A swath of land in Cape Coral, north of Pine Island Road and west of Del Prado Boulevard, just changed hands. A development of 76 duplexes is being planned for the land, which is surrounded by single-family homes.
Duplexes Park Resort LLC paid $4.2 million on June 1 for the 24 acres that were assembled over the years. It’s a rare, larger piece of land left for a single buyer in the Cape, said Bob O’Connor, who brokered the deal along with LandQwest Commercial colleague Michael Price on behalf of the seller, CC Properties Investors II LLC.
The seller purchased the land at 1322 NE 12 Ave. under a different company name, Boca Bay Development II LLC, O’Connor said. That transaction was made in March 2005, just before the real estate bubble burst, for $5.3 million.
The sellers sold it at about 20% less than what they paid for it with the buyer paying cash.
“There are still properties that just haven’t gotten back to that frenzy value of 2005,” O’Connor said. “Most of the deals in that price range are cash. But the ones that are financed, it’s a lot more difficult to get the financing than it was back in 2005. That could be part of the reason that there are still properties out there that are selling for 20% to 25% lower.”
The buyer is owned by Jones and Company, which includes Ilan Kedem, who represented his company in making the purchase.
“We’re going to build a community of 76 duplexes,” Kedem said. “We’re going to start right away with planning. We’re hoping to break ground … It’s going to be at the end of 2024. It’s going to take us about a year to finish the first of the duplexes. We don’t have many duplexes in Cape Coral. It’s a great product. A lot of investors would like to buy them. It’s a really good product for investors and users as well.”
O’Connor has been on Cape Coral’s zoning and planning commission since 2018, which helped him keep an eye on the property. “It was like having a front-row seat to what was going to be happening with development with the city,” he said. “Off the beaten path is probably a very apt description of this land.”
Kedem’s company was looking for plots of land larger than 5 acres in the Cape.
“It was probably four and a half years ago when I reached out to this ownership group,” O’Connor said. “They happened to have bought it at the height of the market, in 2005. Just for perseverance, I stayed with them.
“We put it on the market at the end of last year. It went under contract right before December.”
Originally zoned for 600 apartment units, the zoning for the land has since been lowered to 16 units per acre, for about 384 units.
The duplex concept effectively will have 152 units, a smaller footprint than what is allowed.
“I was very happy,” Kedem said of the purchase. “It’s going to keep us busy for the next five years between planning and construction.”
