One of Southwest Florida’s more unique retail venues, Flamingo Island Flea Market, recently was sold for $8.5 million. The deal was represented and brokered by Dougall McCorkle of Premier Commercial and Michael Lynch of MLPA Realty. Flamingo Island was first developed over 15 years ago and has since had a strong history of consistent growth and strong top and bottom line performance. The property consists of about 15 acres near the I-75 and Bonita Beach Road interchange as well as 80,000 square feet of open air vendor space which in turn houses nearly 600 vendor booths. The buyer is an operator of one of the nation’s largest flea markets in Denver, Colorado who intends on continuing operating Flamingo as a flea market.
The Flamingo Island attracts more than a quarter million visitors a year, and has been long recognized as one of the best run operations in Florida. “Flamingo Island Flea Market is not the type of traditional flea market that features folks selling their used tools and throwaways on a card table on weekends, but consists of established vendors selling new merchandize in a fun environment that provides customers a sense of discovery and value. This transaction was really a hybrid of three different types of assets: first and foremost the sale of a business opportunity, secondly a more conventional income property, and thirdly a solid investment in commercial land” McCorkle comments.
