Real Estate Briefs (Sara/Mana edition)

Real Estate Briefs (Sara/Mana edition)

Bradenton hospitals plan

major additions, renovations

Preparations are underway for significant new construction at both Manatee Memorial Hospital and Blake Medical Center.

According to Brian Flynn, CEO of the Manatee Healthcare System, the hospital is relocating several departments to accommodate the planned $37 million project, which will add a new 176,000-square-foot medical building and includes the renovation of the existing facility.

"So far the contract has not been awarded (to a contractor) yet," Flynn says. "The architect for this project is HKS of Dallas ... part of our parent company. We are really trying to gear up with some internal moves because we are tearing down the west radial."

Demolition is expected to start in late September or October. The new medical facility will feature administrative office suites, medical records and additional medical classrooms in anticipation of the medical students attracted to the area by the new Lakewood Ranch campus of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.

"The main hospital is over 50 years old," Flynn says. "It is no longer a state-of-the-art medical facility. Right now, we have three- and four-bed patient rooms. That is not what today's patients want. After this construction, we will have 219 private and 50 semi-private rooms ... a lot of which will have nice river views. Ultimately, we will be renovating or remodeling all of our patient rooms."

The goal is to have the new facilities completed by the fourth quarter of 2005.

Meanwhile, Blake Medical officials are still working with their architect, Perkins & Will, on the final design for a $50 million project, involving an 8-suite surgery center, a medical office building and a parking garage.

"Right now, we are on tap for a late August start," says Ginger Mace, Blake's vice president of marketing and public relations. "We have received bids (from potential contractors) and we are reviewing them. We already have site plan approval, and the documents have been submitted for permitting. Our last major renovation was in our emergency department. The rest of the building, including the surgery center, is 30 years old."

New construction will take place on vacant land next to the existing hospital, which means there'll be no interruptions of operations. The hospital staff plans to use the new medical building for additional space for educational programs and classrooms, a new computer room and more outpatient rooms. Relocating departments in the existing building will allow the hospital to relocate and expand the existing pharmacy department. The daycare center will relocated to a bottom-level floor in the parking garage.

"This will allow us to work more efficiently," Mace says.

Point Development Co.

buys Cracker Barrel land

Alan Sakowitz's Bay Harbor-based Point Development Co., the former owner of Cortez Plaza, purchased a large piece of land on Cortez Road in Bradenton from Dieeter Layh for about $2.2 million. The parcel includes the land under a new Cracker Barrel Restaurant and Old Country Store, plus additional land to the south and east of the restaurant.

"We really like Bradenton and in particular Cortez Road," Sakowitz says. "Cracker Barrel has a long-term ground lease on the property. We owned the Cortez Plaza for about 16 months and sold it in October. We made about $5 million over what we paid for it."

Point Development Co. plans to develop a 9,360-square-foot retail center to the east of the restaurant. In addition, the company plans to sell a third parcel, behind the restaurant piece, for an 85-room hotel.

"The infrastructure for the hotel is already in place," Sakowitz says. "There is a road between the Cracker Barrel site and the new retail site. We will sell off the retail center to an investor after it is up and operational. We are talking with national tenants."

The retail site will feature three to four tenant spaces and will range in size from 2,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet.

The leasing agent for the retail space is John Clendenon, with Oakmont Capital Resources Inc., and the selling agent for the hotel site is Brenda Garland, of Keller Williams Realty.

"We hope to start construction (on the retail site) in the next six months or so," Sakowitz says. "We think it is going to be pretty easy to fill."

The estimated cost of construction for the retail center, including soft costs, is about $936,000.

Point Development Co. mortgaged the land to Bay Cities Bank for $2 million.

Land Associates buys

95 acres in Myakka City

Land Associates purchased about 95 acres and a house on Taylor Road in Myakka City from Alvis and Priscilla Tucker for $937,500. Land Associates is a local real estate joint venture between Kevin E. Brundage Inc., Richard H. Rosenberg Inc. and W.F. Scutt Inc. "We typically do residential," says Kevin Brundage. "It is zoned for five acres per (residential) piece, but we probably won't break it up that much. It is really just too early to tell."

As for the price per acre, Brundage says the group paid a premium because of the condition and appearance of the house and the surrounding property. "It is just really pretty and peaceful," he says. "That is kind of a lot for out there, but it was worth it."

The new owners mortgaged the property to Wauchula State Bank for $663,952.

Perry Concrete moves

to Rich Street in Venice

Thomas and Tammy Perry's Perry Concrete of Venice purchased a 7,200-square-foot office/warehouse building at 240 Rich St., Venice, from Eleanor Hood, as trustee, for $648,000. The Perrys purchased it to house their 14-year-old concrete subcontracting company and their new home building business, Perry Homes. The concrete company will relocate from a smaller location in the Southbridge Park area of Venice.

Perry Concrete of Venice Inc. mortgaged the property to SunTrust Bank for $500,000.

Sales are brisk at

Rivo at Ringling

The sales staff for the Rivo at Ringling in Sarasota, is seeing heavy early interest for the condominium component of the mixed-use, multiple building development near the intersection of Ringling Boulevard and Osprey Avenue.

The development is currently envisioned as a 106-unit, 15-story, residential condominium; a two-story, 10,800-square-foot retail/office space building; a two-story, 9,000-square-foot bank with a drive-through and two two-story (over parking) office buildings, each 7,840 square feet. In a little more than a month, the sales staff has accumulated reservations for 47 units or 44% of the 106 units. The reservation period began March 21.

The units, which range in size from 1,440 square feet to 3,460 square feet, are priced from $360,000 up to $1.6 million.

Gary Johnson, president of Tivali Homes and a spokesperson for the Sarasota-based developer The Rivolta Group, attributed the sales success to the location and price point.

"We are still in the site plan phase," Johnson says. "We hope to break ground in September. We had high expectations based on what the development had going for it, but we are running a little ahead of schedule."

Johnson says the residential component by itself has an estimated value of about $60 million. The development will be built by Fort Myers-based Kraft Construction Co. The condominium component has a 20-month build out and is scheduled for completion in April of 2006.