Feature Story

Riverview Corporate Center Provides Crown Jewel in McGarvey's Development Portfolio
By Elizabeth W. Pearce

In an area that’s growing as rapidly as Bonita Springs, commercial centers along U.S. 41 usually are identified by their proximity to area landmarks, such as “south of the ship” or “north of Bonita Beach Road.” That’s not the case at Riverview Corporate Center, McGarvey Development Company’s latest commercial venture and the area’s newest landmark.

Situated on the west side of U.S. 41, Riverview encompasses 24 acres on the north side of the Imperial River, abutting Bonita Bay. When completed, the center’s nine buildings will total 275,000sf of Class-A office space, including some limited retail and a restaurant.

To date, two buildings have been completed, with a third under construction and scheduled for June occupancy. Contractors are poised to build three more in September, with construction of the final three buildings slated for September 2002.

Riverview’s many stunning elements make it impossible to miss from U.S. 41 and easy to distinguish from any other commercial property in the area. The double entries, for example, make a splashy first impression with black granite waterfalls incorporated into stone monuments. Sparkling under the sun, or illuminated at night, the signage makes a strong statement about the elegant touches throughout the center.

Highlights of the campus-style office park include large lakes with fountains, abundant landscaping with mature palms, a sweeping drive accentuated by paverstones and a planted median, and spectacular glass and stone office buildings with marble and granite accents. While the style is contemporary, the architecture has a timeless appeal.

Enduring quality is important to McGarvey Development, which typically keeps the properties it develops or acquires. The firm was established by John McGarvey in 1985 in Moorestown, New Jersey, where it developed, built and owned approximately four million square feet of industrial and office space. Since relocating to Southwest Florida in 1996, the company has been building a high-profile portfolio of the following commercial properties in Fort Myers and Bonita Springs, including:

¥      Westlinks Business Park, a mixed-use office/warehouse park in the Fort Myers master-planned community of Gateway. Thus far, McGarvey Development has built nine buildings totaling approximately 250,000sf of flex space with plans to build an additional 350,000sf.

¥     Mid-Metro Business Center (adjacent to Chico’s world headquarters on Metro Parkway in Fort Myers), a 20-acre, upscale complex of seven office/warehouse buildings totaling 204,000sf. To date, four buildings totaling 130,000sf are completed and fully-leased. The remaining three buildings are under construction and 25% leased, leaving a leasable balance of 55,000sf.

¥     Bonita Bay Executive Center I & II. Purchased by McGarvey Development in 1998, the two-building, 60,000sf office center is fully leased.

¥     Bonita Bay Professional Court. The project, located behind the Executive Centers, includes three 3,500sf office buildings developed and owned by McGarvey Development.

McGarvey Custom Homes, the commercial company’s residential counterpart, also has been hugely successful in developing high-end homes in communities such as Quail West, Bay Colony Golf Estates, Pelican Landing and The Colony. Its custom creations start at $2.5 million.

According to Charles Jans, vice president of McGarvey Development, attention to detail and the ability to deliver a superior product are among the numerous characteristics separating McGarvey from other real estate developers. “One of the important things about this company is that it’s not just the developer, but the owner and builder as well. As such, we are investing in ourselves,” he said.

Approximately 80% of any project is completed by McGarvey employees, ensuring a quality product on a timely basis. “Because we’re licensed to do electrical, plumbing, architectural design, interior design, maintenance, you name it, we can pretty much do everything in-house,” he said.

 “There are others out there who try to do what we do, but we provide a better building and a better level of service,” he said. “And if you can do that, who wouldn’t want to lease space from you?”

In Riverview’s case, only those who don’t want or need a peerless, Class-A corporate environment, convenient to both Naples and Fort Myers. But they comprise a shrinking segment of office users, according to commercial broker Craig Timmins, a principal in Grubb & Ellis/IPC in Naples.

“Bonita represents a very viable market for many businesses based in Fort Myers or Naples that want to open a second location,” he said. “And as more people move into Bonita, more business owners may want a Class-A space that impresses (out-of-town) clients, whether they actually need it or not.”

However, most tenants, including Colonial Bank, need the space as much as they want it. In March, the bank moved its regional headquarters into approximately 20,000sf in Riverview’s first building to better serve its growing client base in Lee and Collier counties.

The new, signature structure is a major improvement from the bank’s previous headquarters, a 40-year-old building on the corner of Old 41 and Bonita Beach Road. Although the bank is building a new facility on the site later this year, Harlan Parrish, president and CEO of Colonial Bank’s Southwest Florida Region, admits that “the old location was a little off-the-beaten path” for its purposes.

Serving Southwest Florida since 1998, Alabama-based Colonial has assets totaling $12.1 billion nationally, making it the 47th largest bank in the U.S. While Parrish wanted to retain the bank’s “community feel,” he also needed to position it for expansion. “Our goal is to add nine branches in Collier and Lee counties by 2005,” he said, adding that Colonial now has 12 branch locations and 17 sites under review.

“We wanted to stay in Bonita because we felt it was in the epicenter of all growth in Southwest Florida,” said Parrish. “But we also needed a nice, Class-A space to tell people who we are and send a message that we’re committed to this area.” Further, Parrish said, the bank’s expansion plans made it more desirable to lease a build-to-suit facility than to own a building and site.

The decision to work with McGarvey was easy, since the developer banked with Colonial. “We were familiar with their company and what they were doing, so it was a great situation that worked out well for both of us,” said Parrish.

In keeping with Riverview’s Class-A atmosphere and the bank’s concierge-style approach to customer service, Colonial’s new headquarters has all the features and finishes of a five-star resort, including marble columns and floors throughout the ground-level banking areas. The second-floor commercial lending and executive areas are equally impressive, with floors of marble, stone and granite; an expanse of frosted, etched glass behind the reception desk; and cherry wood molding, doors and furnishings throughout.

Additional Class-A features in each building include sweeping lake views, nine-foot ceilings, designer lighting, hardwood doors and trim, upgraded carpeting (in offices and conference rooms) and state-of-the-art bathrooms with touchless fixtures.

With offices starting at 900sf, Riverview is ideal for law firms, engineers, insurance companies, real estate agencies, mortgage/title companies and other professional tenants wanting to establish a high-profile presence in the heart of Southwest Florida.

Space is still available on the first and third floors of the 46,000sf Colonial Bank building, which is also occupied by the law firm of Pittsburgh-based Cohen & Grigsby. In Building 3, which contains 28,000sf in two stories, McGarvey Development occupies 10,000sf on the second floor, leaving a modest amount of space for lease on that floor and all of the first floor. Ground-level suites range from 2,200sf to 5,500sf. When completed in June, Building 2 will offer 27,000sf for lease.

By early next year, space in three additional buildings will be available, including: a single-story office building with 9,000sf; a two-story office building totaling 27,000sf; and a one-story, 12,000sf building designed to accommodate a limited amount of retail space.

Also, in September, 2002, construction will begin on the largest and final two office buildings in Riverview. The pair will front the Imperial River and flank a freestanding, one-story restaurant. While one building will feature 42,000sf in two stories over a parking garage, the other will be a four-story, 96,000sf structure over two levels of parking.

Presently, base lease rates in Riverview start at $17/sf plus CAM, which Jans said is “very competitive” for office space that’s so visible and luxurious. “This is not just your typical office building on the side of the road with a sign out front,” he said.

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