David Dorsey
David Dorsey treats business growth and physical change as a running story about how Southwest Florida works, rather than a list of transactions. As senior editor at Gulfshore Business, he covers regional growth and development, local businesses and real estate trends with an emphasis on what new money, projects and openings mean on the ground. His reporting combines precise deal terms and project details with clear explanations of how they reshape corridors, industries and workplaces.
Commercial real estate and major deals
Commercial property deals and redevelopment projects sit at the core of his beat. In his coverage of Cardone Capital’s $89.75 million Naples apartment acquisition and accompanying Bitcoin investment, he walks through pricing, financing and strategic positioning while tying the deal to the broader regional market. He brings the same level of detail to large warehouse and industrial transactions, such as the $65 million purchase of the Highland Commerce Center in south Fort Myers by the owner of Coca-Cola Florida, where he explains square footage, buyer structure, and the implications for industrial vacancy rates.
Smaller but consequential land and building sales also feature heavily in his work. His story on the Corkscrew Country Store closing and its 9.5‑acre property selling for $1.25 million lays out the buyer entity, investment horizon and planned use, framing the deal as a long‑term hold rather than a quick redevelopment. He tracks how such purchases alter longtime landmarks and rural outposts, treating each sale as a pivot point in the commercial landscape.
Dorsey is attentive to the tension between preservation and densification. In his reporting on a modern condominium tower rising alongside a 1907 home in Fort Myers, he uses one parcel to show how historic residential fabric sits next to contemporary vertical growth.
He returns to market context frequently, connecting individual sales and projects to trends in industrial vacancy, corridor evolution and investor appetite.
Openings, closings and local expansion
A second strand of his coverage follows the churn of businesses opening, closing, relocating and expanding across Southwest Florida.
His recent work on 7 Brew’s drive‑thru coffee growth in south Fort Myers tracks store counts, planned sites and the pace of the brand’s regional expansion, linking a national concept to local traffic patterns and competition. He covers reopening stories with the same precision, including reporting on a Chick‑fil‑A that returns after months of renovation, noting the investment in upgrades and the restaurant’s place in a busy retail intersection.
He spends significant time on family‑owned and franchise growth stories.
His reporting on Vroom Car Wash’s first Fort Myers location and plans for seven additional sites in Lee County and LaBelle explains the membership‑based model, rollout schedule and ambitions for brand footprint. In coverage of Gator Lanes’ sale and its conversion into Fort Myers Theatre, he treats the transaction as both a business pivot and a cultural shift, outlining how bowling, dining and live performance will coexist in a redeveloped space.
Dorsey also follows manufacturing and food brands scaling from local roots.
His piece on Gelatys’ $8 million frozen‑treat facility in Fort Myers describes how a once‑small Miami gelato brand now produces for retailers nationwide, detailing capital investment, production capacity and the decision to anchor growth in Southwest Florida. Across these stories, he pays attention to risk, strategy and timing, such as a Jersey Mike’s franchise owner calling a new Fort Myers Beach location a “calculated risk” and long‑term bet on the island’s recovery.
Construction, infrastructure and technology
Large construction and infrastructure projects form another focus area, often with a technological angle. In coverage of AI tools reshaping one of Southwest Florida’s largest construction projects, the $1.2 billion terminal expansion at Southwest Florida International Airport, he explains how a major contractor uses custom AI systems to streamline scheduling, reduce paperwork and improve safety, connecting software choices directly to project timelines and budgets. He uses clear numbers and named workflows to show how technology changes day‑to‑day building practice.
His reporting on how AI is changing how local builders work broadens that lens, describing shifts in planning, risk management and on‑site operations across the construction sector. He embeds these pieces in the larger story of a region rebuilding and upgrading after storms, stricter codes and demand for resilient structures.
Dorsey follows coastal and resort development closely. In his coverage of the Sunset Beach Resort project on Fort Myers Beach, he outlines a $13 million build that signals newer, often larger mixed‑use developments shaped by updated building codes and investor expectations.
He also tracks education and workforce infrastructure, such as the Heights CareerTech Institute’s $42 million campus, explaining program focus areas, target students and how the facility fits into regional workforce development.
Workplace, entrepreneurship and local stories
Beyond deals and projects, he engages directly with workplace culture and entrepreneurship. In an editor’s column on Best Places to Work in Southwest Florida, he highlights companies recognized for strong workplace practices and uses the package to explore how employers are trying to make work function better for employees. Within that same issue, his feature “Rising to the Challenge” examines a wave of entrepreneurship aimed at climate adaptation and flood prevention, following startups and established firms that build stormwater solutions and protective infrastructure.
His long experience as a reporter informs a narrative style that pays close attention to individual paths and community histories. A profile describing his career notes his years covering sports and writing about historically segregated neighborhoods and their relationship with football, underscoring his comfort with deep, locally rooted storytelling. That background shows up in his business writing through detailed character sketches of owners, franchisees and project leaders, and through an insistence on connecting balance sheets and construction budgets to the lived experience of residents, workers and customers.
Dorsey works across formats. In addition to print and online articles, he frequently front‑lines video reports for Gulfshore Business, appearing in short segments on restaurant reopenings, car‑wash expansions, entertainment venue redevelopments, manufacturing growth, AI‑driven construction and beach‑resort projects. This mix of platform work reinforces his focus on clear, visual explanations of how business decisions physically alter Southwest Florida’s landscape.
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Aaron Karp
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Adrienne Roberts
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Alex Bronzini-Vender
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Alex DeMarban
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