Students of history know the Industrial Revolution ended in the 1800s. But in Southwest Florida, the Industrial Revolution is happening right now, with the epicenter off Interstate 75 and Alico Road in Lee County.
The northeast quadrant of that intersection is full of projects.
Meridian Business Park celebrated its grand opening with a party July 11, commemorating the new complex that has four buildings of 75,000, 60,000, 35,000 and 35,000 square feet.
Those buildings already are more than 70% leased, with three of them fully booked and a fourth, 16140 Parallel Drive, still available.
Geis Companies, which also built the Centro Apartments just across the interstate, developed the four buildings with assistance from Westminster Capital.
Adam Bornhorst, vice president of Lee & Associates brokerage firm, has been spearheading the leasing efforts.
“It’s not finished,” Bornhorst said. Meridian Business Park, at a combined 205,000 square feet, will be just a fraction of the ongoing total. “There’s a projection. The airport did a study that said we need another 12 million square feet of industrial over the next 10 years.”
The population growth of the region has prompted all the industrial activity, he said.
“One of the big users that we see come through our corridor and having expanded is consumer goods,” Bornhorst said. “That goes along with the population growth.
“Here we have a countertops company that facilitates residential homes. We have a cooler company that does boating gear used for fishing. We have occupational therapy here at the business campus.”
Seven companies, most geared toward goods and services, already have signed leases with several already working there, including Countertops and More (22,123 square feet), Frigid Rigid, which makes coolers (39,268 square feet), LiquiGlide (14,905 square feet), Concentra physical therapy (14,905 square feet), Lehman Pipe and Supply (37,613 square feet), Americas Products Distribution (10,452 square feet) and Granite Planet (7,206 square feet).
Meridian Business Park will end up being just a fraction of the ongoing and future industrial projects in that northeast quadrant of Alico Road and I-75. Just across Ben Hill Griffin Parkway from Meridian is 283 acres of land, also visible from I-75, that will be called Gulf Landing Logistics Center.
And to the east of Meridian, land eventually will be cleared to make way for Florida Gulf Coast Technology and Research Park, which is planned for about 3.8 million square feet of industrial space.
“That’s the one driver for Fort Myers, Florida, is 75 access,” Bornhorst said. “Most of these companies want to facilitate their distribution or their workers to get up to Charlotte County or get down to Collier County.”
