Sarasota developer makes massive industrial land buy in Sumter County
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 16, 2024

Sarasota-based Benderson Development has partnered with The Villages to buy more than 3,400 acres of industrial land in Sumter County.

The partnership purchased Monarch Ranch, which is at the intersection of Interstate 75 and the Florida Turnpike between Wildwood and Coleman, for $40 million. Avison Young, which marketed the property for sale, announced the transaction on Tuesday. A deed has not yet been filed in Sumter County.

Avison Young principals Jay Ziv, Michael T. Fay, John K. Crotty, David Duckworth, Brian de la Fé and Greg Morrison marketed and sold the site.

A Benderson spokesperson was not immediately available Tuesday.

The property is an hour from both Tampa Bay and Orlando and directly borders CSX’s main eastern seaboard freight line, opening the opportunity to connect on-site to the more than 20,000-mile rail network. The rail line serves more than 23 states.

Avison said the combination of “major roadway accessibility and multimodal systems” has made Sumter County an ideal distribution hub. The county is becoming known as Florida’s Center of Commerce as the I-75 and Florida Turnpike juncture sees “69% of all state highway truck traffic,” according to Avison.

The Villages — a census-designated place in Sumter and Marion counties — is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Between 2021 and 2022, The Villages grew by 7.5%.

The Villages has expanded throughout Sumter County and now owns a large portion of land east of I-75, less than a mile from Monarch Ranch.

“As the Florida industrial market continues to expand, new ownership has the opportunity to construct an industrial project spanning millions of square feet that could define warehousing activity for the state’s central corridor,” Ziv said in a statement.

The Monarch Ranch property will continue to be used for farming until development plans are finalized.

“Despite capital markets experiencing disruption with interest rates increasing several times during the marketing period, we secured a strong private buyer within months of the property going to market,” Fay said in a statement.