Shell Factory buyer to evaluate site, plan next steps 

Developer Vincent Godin’s company purchased the former Shell Factory, a once-popular North Fort Myers roadside attraction that operated for nearly 85 years, for $3.925 million. 

Shell NFM LLC acquired the 19-acre property and plans to spend the next couple of months evaluating the site before determining its future use. Potential options include self-storage, restaurants and retail. The property is not currently zoned for multifamily or residential development, and Godin said he does not intend to pursue rezoning. 

Gary Tasman, Lane Boy and Shawn Stoneburner of Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Property Southwest Florida brokered the transaction on behalf of Pam Cronin, whose family purchased the property in 1997 for $1 million. 

Shell Factory long served as a family destination, featuring miniature golf, a petting zoo, arcades, a museum, weekend flea markets and events, two restaurants and other attractions. 

“It’s bittersweet to see this chapter come to a close, but we are incredibly grateful for the decades of support from our community that helped make this property what it was,” Cronin wrote in an email. “While we cannot speculate on the property’s future use, we will always be thankful for the many beautiful memories, relationships and impact created here over the years.” 

Cronin closed Shell Factory on Sept. 29, 2024. After listing the property with another broker for about a year, she switched to Cushman & Wakefield. Tasman and his team took the site to market Nov. 2, 2025, secured a contract Dec. 10 and closed Jan. 15, completing the process in just 51 business days. 

“We marketed it aggressively, and it came down to five potential buyers,” Tasman said. “We vetted all the buyers and then came back with a best and final offer. 

“Vince clearly won it.” 

Hurricane Ian damaged portions of the property, requiring repairs that factored into the decision to sell. 

“We are assessing all of the existing infrastructure to see what existing buildings can be repurposed and what will need to be demolished,” Godin said in a text message. “We just felt it was a great piece of property that will benefit from the continued growth in the area.” 

Godin previously spent more than a decade with Boca Raton-based Procacci, which has completed one project in Southwest Florida, a building used by the Department of Homeland Security in south Fort Myers. Most of Procacci’s developments, including a hotel, a school and an office building, are located in Doral, a Miami suburb. 

Godin, Procacci’s former director of finance and acquisitions, left the company in 2021 but remained listed as an employee on its website until Gulfshore Business pointed it out this week. 

“I was laughing to Alex (Gulick, Procacci’s chief financial officer) that he finally needs to get my picture off the website,” Godin said. “I still use the same service to open my LLCs as when I was with Procacci, which I guess had Procacci’s office address as a default for registered agent. I fixed that over the weekend.” 

The property sold for about $206,500 per acre. Tasman said Godin was drawn to the site’s dual frontage along U.S. 41 and Old 41. 

“I think the future of all of North Fort Myers looks very bright right now,” Tasman said. “Certainly, the Shell Factory is an anchor landmark location within the North Fort Myers community. 

 “In its place, I think you’re going to see some very progressive light industrial, maybe a little bit of retail on the Old 41 side, some outside storage. All the things that the area and the submarket needs drastically, given all the new construction that’s happening in that market, and all the new demographics in that area because of all the new rooftops being built.”