Topgolf of Fort Myers hits real estate market for $40.9M

The land on which Topgolf sits in Fort Myers hit the real estate market again, less than 13 months after selling.  

For $40.9 million, a new investor can take over a property with a triple-net lease, which favors owners, with Topgolf assuming all property upkeep, insurance and taxes.  

The location last sold for $32.3 million on March 29, 2022, with Sideways Properties LLC and Bowery Fort Myers LLC purchasing it from Fort Myers FL Landlord. The two new owners agreed to a 70%-30% split and took out a $24.2 million loan.   

Fort Myers FL Landlord LLC bought the land for $4.9 million in December 2019 before developing it into how it appears today.  

The retail and entertainment center built on 14 acres at 2021 Topgolf Way has 36 golf bays on the second floor and 36 on the ground floor, with 48,000 square feet of space. There’s a 215-yard driving range with netting up to 175 feet high at the southwest corner of Interstate 75 and Colonial Boulevard.  

Topgolf, which has more than 18 years left on its Fort Myers lease, has at least 81 locations and generated $4 billion in revenue in 2022, Issenberg said. “The location is surrounded by national and regional retailers just off an Interstate 75 exit with more than 175,000 vehicles per day,” he said.  

Within 48 hours of listing the property, Issenberg said he received a few offers.  

“It was fierce,” he said. “Many, many, many investors reached out. … It’s definitely a favorable tenant to have. The dirt underneath being so much acreage is what gives people security over the tenant.”  

Having a trendy tenant at an optimal location drove up the price in 13 months despite higher interest rates, said Matt Simmons, property appraiser with Maxwell, Hendry & Simmons. 

“You can trust this,” Simmons said. “It’s the reason why a Walgreens or a CVS or a Starbucks or some other triple-net property sells for such a low cap rate. If you’re buying a Starbucks for 5,000 square feet, couldn’t you also buy another building for 5,000 square feet and lease it out? Would you pay more for one versus the other? Well yeah, you’d pay more for the one with Starbucks as the tenant.  

“Here’s the thing with net-lease properties. They’ve been really popular for years because they’re viewed as so safe. If you had money that you wanted in a safe asset, the ultimate benchmark for safety is a treasury bill. Until this past year, you weren’t getting hardly any return on that. A net-lease property is a way you could buy something with a lot of safety behind it and still get a 4% to 5% return.”