Amazon pays $66.5M for 143 acres in Fort Myers to build new warehouse

Even the scaled-back version of a planned Amazon warehouse and distribution facility, the first to be located within Fort Myers city limits, will be a record-setter.

Amazon.com Services LLC paid $66.5 million Nov. 18 for 143.2 acres off State Road 82, said Justin Thibaut, CEO of LSI Companies and the broker on the deal. The land has an address of 10631 State Road 82.

Amazon already uses two buildings for distribution and warehouse space off Alico Road.

A longtime Fort Myers-based land investor sold the land under the name Keystone Creek LLC, property records show.

The building will measure about 750,000 square feet, according to Kimley-Horn and Associates, the engineering firm that sent a June letter to Fort Myers Community Development Director Steve Belden about the project.

That would be the largest, standalone industrial building in Lee County history, Thibaut said. It’s almost the size of two Edison Mall shopping areas.

“The indicators that Lee County and the city of Fort Myers are in growth-mode are clear, when a user like this not only enters the market as they did a few years ago in the Alico Corridor, but then doubles down by delivering another large-scale facility here,” Thibaut said. “Our area has been on the precipice of hitting key metrics that now prove that large scale distribution/delivery infrastructure and facilities like this one are needed to keep up with changing and increasing consumer demand.”

The Kimley-Horn letter provides some of the details: that the warehouse will provide about 750 full- and part-time jobs starting at $16 an hour. The just taxable value of the land will rise from the current $10 million to about $500 million upon completion of construction, the letter said.

The developer will pay for all sewer and water connections, the letter said, as well as a traffic signal and median cut just east of Lightard Knott Lane, about 1.2 miles east of the interstate and 1.8 miles west of the Colonial/Lee Boulevard and State Road 82 intersection.

Three years ago, Amazon paused plans to build what would have been the largest industrial warehouse complex in city of Fort Myers and Lee County history.

Then known as “Project Rainforest,” the original plans would have measured almost 1.5 million square feet and were to have had four buildings, with the largest being 650,000 square feet.

But in 2022 during post-COVID-19 supply-chain disruptions that impacted construction, Amazon scaled back some of its warehouse expansion plans, not just across Southwest Florida but across the country.

Thereafter, the same investor from this week’s deal sold parcels just to the east and west of the existing Lexington Palms at the Forum apartment complex under the C-Hack and Keystone Creek LLC names.

A 64-acre tract sold for $30.8 million to Varden Capital Properties in June 2022. And a 70-acre tract sold for $30 million to Wolfson Development for a planned 700-unit apartment complex. Neither of those two projects have broken ground yet.

Amazon could not be reached for comment on the timetable to develop the warehouse. But Thibaut said the proximity to Interstate 75 drove this latest land deal.

“The location relative to I-75 was a key factor for this acquisition, in addition to the simple fact that large vacant properties similar to this simply do not exist in this close of proximity to major thoroughfares in Lee County,” Thibaut said. “A new flag is being planted in our area, and consumers will notice the impact as soon as its delivered.”

Steve Weathers, director economic development for city of Fort Myers, called Amazon coming to the city a win for the local economy.

“Any time an Amazon facility comes to your community, it brings a lot of jobs,” Weathers said. “It brings a lot of economic benefit to the area. I just think when Amazon comes to your community, it brings a lot of jobs with great benefits. They’re always a great addition to your community. And they pay taxes. They’ll increase our tax revenue and our tax base for job creation.”

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