Fulmer Closes $1M Land Deal, Could Net $2M in Resales

Both parties have closed a $1.4-million land deal involving 40 prime outparcel acres in the middle of the sold-out 750-acre Lake County Industrial Park in south Lake County. The site is at American Way and Sate Road 19.

Fulmer, president of Carroll Fulmer Management Co., paid the Strongs $35,000 per acre or 80 cents per sf. He plans to use 30 acres to develop Carroll Place, an industrial park for small users to supply the area with parts, supplies and services. He is keeping the remaining 10 acres for future development.

Fulmer plans to spend about $400,000 to develop Carroll Place and re-plat the parcel into 23 one-acre lots selling for $100,000 each ($2.30 per sf) or a total $2.3 million, Jeff Ettinger, a senior industrial broker with Maitland-based NAI Realvest Partners Inc., tells GlobeSt.com. Seven acres of the 30,000-acre tract are non-developable.

"Undeveloped, he'll sell the 30 acres for $65,000," Ettinger says. "If a user-buyer only wants five acres, the price will be about $100,000 per acre. If 10 acres are wanted, the price will be $75,000 per acre." Comparable undeveloped land in Orlando, when available, sells for about $3 per sf or about $130,600 per acre, the broker tells GlobeSt.com.

Lake County has several scattered parcels available in or near the park starting at $50,000 per acre or $1.15 per sf. The same land was going for $35,000 per acre until last year.

Ettinger negotiated the deal for Fulmer and has represented the trucking and logistics company executive for years. Fulmer bought the first acreage in the Lake County park, now known as the Christopher C. Ford Industrial Park, in 1987. "He had a lot of foresight then and he has a lot of foresight now," Ettinger says. Carroll Place is expected to create 300 to 400 new jobs in the area, the broker says.

The Strongs, meanwhile, have seen their original citrus grove in Lake County sell for the current market value here, after holding the dirt for 40 years. "Lake County offered to buy their land 10 years ago for $5,000 or $6,000 per acre," Ettinger recalls.