Greg Hardwig | Naples

Greg Hardwig, greg.hardwig@naplesnews.com; 239-263-4767

The Florida Everblades and Hertz Arena are being purchased by David Hoffmann, said Craig Brush, the team's president and general manager, Monday afternoon.

Hoffmann is founder and chairman of Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate, a division of Osprey Capital, that has been making purchases of businesses in Naples. Brush would not reveal the sale figure, and Hoffmann said he was asked not to disclose it.

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"There wasn't really a good fit until now," Brush said in his office at Hertz Arena. "This truly is a good fit.

"They're fine, fine people," Brush added. "They're here not to buy something and sell it. They want to hold this property for a long, long time, and they want to enhance what we have here."

"We've been looking to buy a professional sports team for probably three or four years," Hoffmann said by phone from Chicago. "We got close with an NBA team and we got close with an NHL team. I live in Naples, so I'm a resident. I went to a few Everblades games with my kids and grandkids. We got kind of jazzed up about it.

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"It's fun and it's great long-term potential for Southwest Florida."

Hoffmann isn't wasting any time. He said he's already purchased a new scoreboard for $1.7 or $1.8 million. He also plans on redoing all of the suites.

"We're going to fix it up," he said. "We're going to really, really start with the exterior. We're going to move up to the suites and really make them nice. We're going to redo the entire indoors. ... The scoreboard is old. It's just not the kind of instant replay that you're used to."

Conversations regarding the sale began around the start of 2019, and an agreement in principle was reached a couple of weeks ago, Brush said.

Brush, who was part of the original ownership group along with owner Peter Karmanos Jr. and the late Tom Thewes, was offered a contract for five years, and agreed to stay on.

Even more: Hoffmann family to acquire another Naples business

"We've bought seven or eight businesses down in Naples," Hoffmann said. "All of the management teams have stayed in place, and all of the employees, and that's worked out well for us."

Laura Layden, Wochit

Hoffmann and Karmanos negotiated the sale in Hoffmann's office.

"Twenty years ago, when he was the founder of Compuware, I did consulting work for Compuware," Hoffmann said. "I met him then. So we kind of reintroduced ourselves.

"He was picky about who he was going to sell it to. He wants to see it do well and continue to do well."

“Without Peter Karmanos, there would be no Hertz Arena,” Brush said. “I speak for everyone in the organization in wishing Pete continued success in all his business ventures and would like to thank him for all his support and guidance over the past 21 years."

Srijita Chattopadhyay, Naples Daily News

Hoffmann has four grandsons who play youth hockey in the Chicago area.

"They play a high level of competitive hockey," he said. "We like the sport a lot."

The Hoffmanns own a minority of stake in the Kane County Cougars Class A professional baseball team.

The sale comes on top of recent months where Hertz has taken over naming rights from Germain, and the Everblades also became the ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Nashville Predators.

"We're on a roll," Brush said. "We really are blessed right now."

Srijita Chattopadhyay/Naples Daily News

The Everblades announced in late April 2013 that Hertz Arena and the team were for sale, but that actually had been the case for about five years, according to Brush at the time. Brush said Monday that indeed was the case.

In 2007, Karmanos tried to sell the arena and surrounding land to Lee County, but the county declined. In 2005, with the NHL on strike, Karmanos put the team and arena up for sale, and was negotiating with James and Robert Brooks, who owned the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers, but the deal never happened.

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In addition to the Everblades, Hertz Arena was home to the Florida Firecats, an Arena2 football team; the Junior Everblades hockey team; and the Florida Gulf Coast University hockey team. The Firecats went defunct in 2009.

Hertz Arena also makes money by hosting high school graduations and other events including rodeos, expos and concerts.

In the years since the facility opened in 1998 as Everblades Arena, big-name entertainers who have performed there include Elton John, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, Cher, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, the Boston Pops and Guns N’ Roses.

Karmanos, Brush and Thewes formed KBT Group Inc., and in 1997 announced plans to build the arena in Estero. Lee County’s economic development office estimated at the time that the hockey team could bring $4.5 million in additional spending to the county annually.

The Everblades averaged 6,000 fans a game for the first nine years. In 2012, the team won the Kelly Cup.

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