The center--which was 91% leased at the time of the transaction--is located at US Highway 41 and Cypress Lake Drive, one of the metro area's dominant retail intersections. Tenants at the property include TJ Maxx, Staples and HomeGoods. The freestanding Costco Wholesale adjacent to the property is separately owned and was not included in the sale.

This sale was part of a 1999 redevelopment of the center by the Lefmark Group. Besides the sale of 14.5 acres that Scotty's formerly occupied to Costco, the redevelopment included the renovation and reletting of a building that Wal-Mart formerly occupied to TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and Staples.

The Lefmark Group is led by Leonard Friedman, David Friedman and Robert Shapiro. Adam Feinstein, director of financial services, and Mark Gilbert, senior director of financial services, both with Cushman & Wakefield's Miami office, represented Lef/Cypress Lake LLC, an entity controlled by the Lefmark Group of Houston and Miami, in the Dec. 19 transaction."Fort Myers is a highly attractive market to retail real estate investors because of the area's strong growth and affluence," Gilbert notes in a statement. "There are approximately 94,000 people with an average household income of $68,000 residingin a five-mile radius of the property. These demographics are very appealing tobig-box retailers." He adds that the center's location, on the southern end of the community and within the area's future growth corridor, is strong. A large number of residential units are being built around the property.