In the Know: West Coast real estate powerhouse investing some of its $1.5B in SWFL
Phil Fernandez
A hot market but supply shortages, a lack of workers and a low housing inventory.
Sure, that's the COVID era and 2022. And also post-war Southwest Florida in 1946-47.
That's when former tax collector, 1910 Alva High graduate and wheelin'-dealin' Realtor R.V. Lee made News-Press A1 coverage with construction of his $40,000 Arvelee Apartments on First Street in Fort Myers.
This past week, the same complex was the centerpiece for a $5.48 million compact in the downtown region that has been tabbed among the nation's expected 10 hottest spots for 2022 sales.
And that's playing out with this one near Park Avenue that also included the Residences at Second Street between Park and Evans avenues and Riverside Landings near Seaboard Street in the Edgewood neighborhood.
In the Know:Chicago hotel developer buying up 5th Ave. parcels, spending nearly $50M in Naples
Plus:In the Know: Shortages? Yo Publix, Costco, don't take our rotisserie chicken away
A player here with strong New Jersey ties, Florentine Holding Co. off-loaded the trio, which it had picked up over the past decade or so for about $1.5 million, according to public records research.
Through investigation of LLCs and other data, we traced the purchase to the Manoucheri brothers and their dad's West Coast powerhouse, Universe Holdings and its $1.5 billion portfolio. The investment giant has made numerous deals this century as it gobbled up more than 7,700 apartment units. It took a first dip in local waters last year when it quietly acquired Frankie Court Apartments in North Fort Myers for $2.3 million.
That's about when Henry Manoucheri, whose firm had concentrated on California addresses such as Hollywood, Long Beach and Ventura Highway in the sunshine, installed 27-year-old son Aaron as his East Coast Division president to raise his group's profile on this side of the continent. He first began working for his father's organization in his early teens.
Stepping out of Beverly Hills backyard
Much like Victor Newman appoints family members and has his children operating his business empire on "The Young and the Restless", this CEO does a bit of that except their playground has been Beverly Hills instead of Genoa City. For example, 30-year-old Ari and his wife Naomi also have prominent officer roles in his evolving Florida operations as the company seeks thousands of new units within two years or so.
As we reported last week, there's a lot of this binge buying going around.
“We’re excited to step out of our backyard,” said Henry Manoucheri, who recently spoke at a multifamily conference in Los Angeles about Class C apartments that tend to be, for example, older with fewer amenities. “You will have 20 to 25 buyers on anything trading above $25 million. (But) the $5 million to $15 million space isn’t as competitive, and you can pick up these smaller properties."
Although his enterprise owns places like Tinseltown's iconic Chateau Alto Nido that was featured prominently in the 1950 Billy Wilder film, "Sunset Boulevard," the Lee County acquisitions fit within a lot of general criteria Manoucheri has been targeting lately.
Collectively, the 40 apartments, mostly two bedrooms and a bath, sit on about a combined three acres. The average square footage for the entire complexes: About 11,000.
Back in the day, a Southwest Florida version of Manoucheri was, in some respects, R.V. Lee – the R.V. not for recreational vehicle, which wasn't quite a thing yet, but for Robert Vivian. While millions were not a regular part of his equation, Lee was one of the first to use a phone number in local newspaper advertising, and being only two digits, it was easy to remember: 14
With his role in government and spirited political spats, as well as community and real estate endeavors during his 84-year ride, his name appeared a stunning 26,000 times in a News-Press archive search of "R.V. Lee" and "Vivian Lee," another of his monikers.
And just as Manoucheri has been maneuvering the challenges that have come with the coronavirus age so, too, did Lee in the aftermath of World War II.
Lack of employees, lumber for builders
The News-Press headlines then had similarities to today, like on Aug. 2, 1946, which came after a piece that talked about Fort Myers setting records despite labor and supply hurdles: "Material shortage slows up building."
The lead focused on how builders were "blaming scarcity of materials for what otherwise might be a boom in construction here."
"There isn't any lumber. There isn't any roofing," said Fort Myers building inspector Fred Lowdermilk, before he became the first city manager of Naples. "No building material."
And the following Oct. 19, Lee, unable to get his hands on needed fixtures, made the front page again although his project would be completed months later: "Vivian Lee's $40,000 building delayed by plumbing."
'Who he really is':'Stop bullying kids': Gov. Ron DeSantis widely criticized over mask confrontation with children
Growth:In the Know: Census data has SWFL among fastest growing in US; how many live here now?
The stumbling blocks for developers continued into the next year, according to comments by Frank Cowles Jr., editor of the industry's monthly Florida Builder magazine, in the Nov. 19, 1947 News-Press.
"Material shortages (are) still plaguing builders," Cowles said, despite continuing records being set. "A lack of skilled workers may (prevent) serious inroads on construction."
But as we see today, with 1.2 million of us now living in Lee and Collier counties, up from the 22,000 then, those issues that time around were largely resolved.
Naples-Los Angeles pipeline Part Two
The West Coast influx doesn't end with Manoucheri.
Representatives from Los Angeles-based real estate brokerage The Agency told me this past week they're setting up shop in Naples.
And:In the Know: Popeyes poised to pop open; new Sprouts location; and Immokalee home construction
“South Florida is an incredibly important region for The Agency as we continue to expand our footprint throughout the state with the launch of our new franchise in Naples,” said CEO Mauricio Umansky. “We could not be more excited to have the powerhouse team."
And it's a couples' party, with the local crew led by Chris and Kara Resop, Blair and LeAnne Thrasher-Chang, and Glenn and Shantel Shimkus. Chris Resop played professional baseball while his wife is a Naples native, a rarity among our snowbird-driven population. LeAnne Thrasher-Chang also is from Naples while her husband had been from San Marino, California. The Shimkus family has Illinois connections.
Adding 11 locations in 2021, The Agency's Naples outpost will be No. 29 as it debuts in Suite 100 at 852 First Ave. S.
City roadblock for Aspen developer?
Potential plans I reported on last week of a mixed residential-retail development on the eastern edge of the traditional downtown shopping district could hit a road bump, depending on various factors including how Naples City Council votes later this month.
Currently, the city allows a maximum of 12 residential units per acre in the downtown area, but developers have been able to exceed that by paying extra fees and taking other remedies.
Buying up the place:In the Know: What will be Southwest Florida's hottest real estate spots for 2022? And is the party over?
Count them out:Mazars, Donald Trump's accounting firm, cuts ties to Trump Organization
However, the council signaled this past week that it intends to not be as flexible as it attempts to limit density. A public hearing is scheduled for March 23.
Except for his representatives saying they had plans for a mixed-use project, Aspen developer Mark Hunt hasn't provided specifics or the scope on what he intends for the land he has been accumulating.
Having been involved in ventures, such as grocery stores and hotels, he could consider any number of possibilities with city approval. One of the biggest projects he's currently developing in Colorado is a Restoration Hardware, an upscale furnishings outfit that these days goes more by RH.
Whatever the city has in mind for the future, it hasn't curtailed the investing, as evidenced by Hunt and serial entrepreneur David Hoffmann, who spoke Friday at the Resnick-Wynn family business conference at Florida Gulf Coast University.
"We own a lot of buildings on Fifth Avenue South. We bought four more this week," Hoffmann said. "We went under contract."
Based at the Naples Daily News, Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com) writes In the Know as part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Support Democracy and subscribe to a newspaper.