WINK-TV buys new headquarters for $18.5 million in Gateway

Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, the parent company of WINK-TV and an affiliated company with Gulfshore Business, just paid $18.5 million for its future new home and broadcast center.   

The 57,260-square-foot building and adjacent 5.6-acre parking lot, 12641 Corporate Lakes Drive, previously had served home to a Comcast service and dispatch center. The building is off Daniels Parkway, about 3.5 miles east of Interstate 75.   

Elm Tree Capital LLC, the seller, removed the building and parking lot parcels from its portfolio of properties, a process that added a few weeks to getting the deal done.   

The off-market deal ended a search for the CBS-TV affiliate to find a suitable new home after Hurricane Ian flooded the station’s current home near downtown Fort Myers.

Enn Luthringer, a commercial real estate broker and partner with CRE Consultants, brokered the deal on behalf of Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, the last family-owned TV broadcaster in Southwest Florida.   

“We beat the bushes to find this,” Luthringer said. “That was not on the market. So we contacted everyone who had a big enough office.   

“I’m just happy to find this facility in time for the upcoming hurricane season. The location, based on being as far away from the water line as possible—they’re not going to get flooded again.” 

Luthringer also looked at a nearby building that had been used by Alta Resources. But the former Comcast building better suited the TV station’s needs, with a higher ceiling in which to build the future TV studio. Other than those two buildings, Luthringer could not find any other suitable, existing office buildings on the market in central Southwest Florida.   

“This was a better location for a broadcast studio,” Luthringer said. “It has an additional parking lot that is 5.67 acres. So that needs to be factored into the overall deal.”  

Constructing a building that size from scratch in today’s market would cost at least about $300 per square foot—or north of $17 million. But the construction time would have been about two years. The transition into this building should happen within one year, said Mark Gilson, operations manager at WINK-TV.   

“The move, meticulously planned and executed, will begin immediately and unfold over the course of the next year,” Gilson said. “As each department’s space is fully built out in the new center, they will seamlessly transition into their new environment. This phased approached ensures minimal disruption to our operations and continuity of services for our viewers and listeners.”   

WINK-TV has been broadcasting from 2824 Palm Beach Blvd. since 1954. The long-term future use of that 32,551-square-foot building remains uncertain.   

“We have not determined the best use for the future of the building,” Gilson said of the current location. “The use remains an open canvas. However, our broadcasting headquarters are moving to the Gateway facility.”   

WINK-TV already had intended to renovate the existing building before the storm, Gilson said.  

“Hurricane Ian’s impact on our current facility was a stark reminder of nature’s unpredictable power,” he said. “While we have significantly grown our operations over the past 70 years, the storm underscored the inevitability of our need for a larger, more resilient facility. In a way, Hurricane Ian accelerated our decision-making process, nudging us toward the inevitable transition sooner than anticipated.”   

The new location also will become home to Fort Myers Broadcasting’s other broadcast properties, including WINK FM, WTLQ FM, WAVV FM and Winknews.com.