M Development corners the market with its latest real estate acquisitions on Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples.

In a $40.25 million deal at the end of July, the Aspen-based development firm purchased two properties with high-profile buildings across the street from one another at Eighth Street South and Fifth, giving the company ownership of all four corners of that prominent intersection.

The latest acquisitions are 821 Fifth Ave. S. on the northeast corner of Fifth and Eighth, and 800 Fifth Ave. S. on the southeast corner. In January, M Development purchased 19,675 square feet of retail space at 765 Fifth Ave. S. on that northwest corner for $29.5 million.

In October 2023, the company acquired the property on the southwest corner in a historic deal that included 12 buildings on Fifth Avenue South that were part of the Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate portfolio. Hoffmann also had the two buildings in the recent sale under contract in 2022, but did not finalize the transaction.

Although representatives of M Development could not be reached for comment about the deal announced this week, brokers at Naples-based Investment Properties Corp., who negotiated the transactions for all four corners, provided some perspective.

“That corner at Fifth and Eighth is an important corner,” said IPC’s Rob Carroll, who noted that the new acquisition is a desirable addition to M Development’s already impressive local real estate portfolio.

“They’re having continued success renewing tenants along the road, bringing new tenants to the road so, so far, their experience has been everything they had hoped it would be, and they’ve got an ever-increasing amount of interest from other tenants for space that may come available on Fifth Avenue,” Carroll said. “I think they see these buildings as an integral part of the overall portfolio.”

Both properties in the recent transaction were sold by Hendricks Commercial Properties, a Beloit, Wisconsin, company doing business locally as Fifth Avenue South LLC. Hendricks acquired the real estate in November 2015 from Westbury International Corp. for a total of nearly $25.5 million.

The office space footage combines for nearly 50,000 square feet, said David Stevens, a principal of IPC. “I think the main building, the old phone company building [at 821 Fifth Ave. S.], is 32,000 and change. I think the one across the street is 17,000 and change,” Stevens said.

The 0.31-acre property at 821 Fifth Ave. S. includes a four-story office building built in 1968, Collier County property records show. Tenants in the building include the Cheffy Passidomo law offices and The Cafe and Bistro 821 restaurants. “It is the largest office building on Fifth with the largest office tenant on Fifth, Cheffy Passidomo,” Stevens said.

The 0.42 acres at 800 Fifth Ave. S. include a two-story office building and retail space built in 1951, county property records show. Tenants in the 800 Fifth Ave. S. building include Bonta Bakery and the Caffe Milano and Ichi Togarashi restaurants.

Tenant changes are not anticipated by M Development, Carroll said.

“They don’t have anything specific, nothing planned, anything like that,” he said. “Their general thesis is to buy the good real estate and either keep existing tenants or, if tenants decide to vacate, replace them with other tenants.”

M Development continues to have its eye on some household names for prospective tenants, Stevens said. “But they’re mostly just interested in what they think is the continuing inevitable growth of that market,” he said. “And, so far they’ve been right.”