TV personality Marcus Lemonis, CEO of Camping World Holdings, has sold a Jacksonville, Fla., RV store at a multi-million-dollar loss, county records indicate.
This story by Will Robinson originally appeared in Jacksonville Business Journal.
Lemonis purchased 9012 Beach Boulevard for $5.4 million in January. In September, the company filed permits to emblazon the property with a sign for RV World, a brand the company purchased for an undisclosed sum in 2017.
Just six months later, however, Travel Camp RV of Jacksonville filed to put up its own signage at the location, and on Oct. 21, it bought the property for $2.65 million, less than half the price Lemonis’s company paid.
The bargain price came in negotiations with Lemonis, Travel Camp Director of Sales and Finance Lars Holbrook told the Business Journal.
Fred Hassan, father of Travel Camp President Salem Hassan, founded a company called Sun Coast RV in 1982 and originally built the dealership at 9012 Beach Boulevard, Holbrook said. He later sold his 11-dealership business to Camping World in 2011, and Lemonis and the Hassans have remained close, Holbrook said.
After RV World vacated the site in February, Lemonis reached out to the family about a 20-year lease. Then about a month ago, the same month Lemonis announced Camping World’s intention to close up to 37 locations, Lemonis asked if Travel Camp would be interested in buying the property.
The transaction closed this week. A Camping World spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment Thursday or Friday.
