Benderson Development of Sarasota, one of the largest privately held real estate companies nationwide, has purchased the 3,400-acre Monarch Ranch, a key Sumter County industrial property along Interstate 75.

The $40-million purchase, made jointly with The Villages, is the result of a court order last spring to sell the property due to the seller’s financial and legal problems.

This diagram shows the large piece of land encompassed by Monarch Ranch
This diagram shows the large piece of land encompassed by Monarch Ranch.

The property was owned by the Valerie J. Tourtelot Trust and disagreement among trustees spawned a lawsuit.

Located between Wildwood and Coleman, the attractive site for distribution and warehousing offers easy access to I-75, the Florida Turnpike and State Road 44. It also borders CSX’s main eastern seaboard rail line with connectivity to a 20,000-mile train network in 23 states.

The Florida Department of Transportation has designated Monarch Ranch property as a site of a future I-75 interchange.

Currently used for agriculture, the site may be the largest tract of open land an hour’s drive from both Orlando and Tampa.

Avison Young’s Florida Capital Markets Group was tapped to make the sale.

A 70-year-old company founded in Buffalo, N.Y., Benderson Development owns 800 properties in 41 states.

It owns several commercial properties in Siesta Key, retail property in Delray Beach and Pompano Beach and recently purchased a 95,489-square-foot shopping center in Sarasota.

The company has offices in Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y, Raleigh, N.C., and University Park, Fla.