Real Estate Briefs (Sara/Mana)

Real Estate Briefs (Sara/Mana)

Albritton Fruit, Attorney

Buy Longboat's Village Plaza

Buyer: Albritton Groves Ltd. (principal John Albritton), Sarasota

Seller: George and Mary Antonopoulos

Property: 5620 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key

Price: $2 million

Previous Price: $225,000, July 1980

Law firm on deed: Kirk Pinkerton PA, Sarasota

Buyer: The Real Estate Parking Co. (principal David Bone), Sarasota

Seller: TLC & Papa LLC

Property: 5610 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key

Price: $1.75 million

Previous Price: $1.25, May 2004

Law firm on deed: Kirk Pinkerton PA, Sarasota

Plans, description: Two commercial buildings located side by side at 5610 and 5620 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key, have been sold. A representative for Albritton Fruit Co. speaking on behalf of John Albritton said the company purchased the 5620 building as an investment.

Sarasota attorney David Bone's holding company The Real Estate Parking Co. purchased the Plaza @ 5610 strip center. Bone's real estate firm specializes in 1031 exchanges; as a result The Real Estate Parking Co. is expected to deed the property to one of Bone's clients. Bone was not available for comment.

Tenants in the 5620 building include: Longboat Key Pest Control, Hardy Services Inc., Longboat Key Maintenance, Tina's Beauty Salon, Manny's Barber Shop and Suzanne and Devorah Art Studio and Gallery. Tenants in the 5610 building include the Backyard Bike Shop, Gary's Of Longboat Salon, Cafe Don Giovanni, the Body Maintenance Center and Dentist R. Tschida.

New owners buy Chevron,

plan upscale carwash

Buyer: I.N.I.N. Group Inc. (Ken and Kathryn Klefenz), Kings Park, N.Y.

Seller: Neil McCurry

Property: 6413 S.R. 64 E., Bradenton

Price: $900,000

Previous Price: $495,000, June 2004

Law firm on deed: James Nixon II, Bradenton

Plans, description: Ken and Kathryn Klefenz, of Kings Park, N.Y., purchased a former Chevron gas station and car wash on State Road 64 in Bradenton and plan to convert it into a full-service upscale car wash.

"I have always been interested in this and always planned on starting one on Long Island," says Ken Klefenz. "But we recently bought a house in Bradenton (Grey Hawk), so I took it as a way to get out of the corporate world early."

Klefenz says construction could start as early as December or January if the permitting process goes well. Construction is estimated for sometime in May.

"The capture rate there is really good," he says. "We get 45,000 cars past it a day. This is really a great location for a car wash. The closest full-service shop is on University. This is going to be extremely high-end; people are going to be able to access the Internet while they wait for their car to be detailed. We are also going to have a small convenience store with merchandise."

The new name for the project is the Clear Sunset Carwash.

Klefenz says he has plans to open another two or three carwashes in the next three years. "We're looking at one in St. Pete to retrofit," he says.

The Klefenzes mortgaged the property to Community Bank of Manatee for $515,000.

Lee Wetherington Cos.

buys property in Parrish

Buyer: Lee Wetherington Development Inc., Sarasota

Seller: Claude and Cynthia Young

Property: 11333 and 10525 Moccasin Wallow Road, Parrish

Price: $8 million

Previous Price: $1.05 million, May 2002

Law firm on deed: Saba & King LLP, Sarasota

Plans, description: The Lee Wetherington Cos. has purchased about 268 acres of land east of I-75 on the south side of Moccasin Wallow Road. Bill Hager, chief executive officer, says designs are still being developed for the residential community and that development plans will most likely be filed with the county in the fourth quarter of the year.

As for where the greatest demand for the project will come, Hager says that it will be from both the north and the south.

"We haven't done a marketing study there yet," Hager says. "But our professional guess is that it will draw significantly from both south Tampa, St. Petersburg and south in Sarasota."

He says that the northern Manatee County market is developing greater demand because of the synergy between additional housing and new business/job opportunities.

Lee Wetherington mortgaged the land to the former owner for $5.5 million.

Sarasota Heart partners

start sleep center

Buyer: South Key Systems LP (principals Drs. Walter Hepp, Michael Mollod and Martin Frey), Sarasota

Seller: Cattlemen Road LLC

Property: 2020 Cattlemen Road, suites 300 and 400, Sarasota

Price: $935,400

Law firm on deed: Icard Merrill Cullis Timm Furen & Ginsburg PA, Sarasota

Plans, description: The three partners who own the Sarasota Heart Center medical practice have opened a sleep center in a 3,800-square-foot office on Cattlemen Road.

"The reality now is that 50% of people with heart disease also have a sleep disorder," says Dr. Martin Frey. "There is that strong of a relationship. This leads to electrical problems with a patient's heart, and (overall) it generally worsens their condition."

Frey expects the new sleep center to have a client base of at least 2,500. "There is also a lot of pent-up demand in the community," Frey says. "The closest sleep center is (Sarasota Memorial) hospital, which has just two beds. They have a three to four month waiting list for people to get in there."

The purchaser mortgaged the property to Fifth Third Bank for $785,570.

The doctors have partnered with Carmel, Indiana-based MD Sleep LLC, a management company that specializes in diagnostic centers and that also helped design the layout of the new office. A sister company of MD Sleep LLC Cardiosom will lease about 900 square feet in the new center and sell medical equipment devoted to sleep disorders sufferers.

Debra Garrett, of M.A.M. Realty Inc., represented the medical practice in the purchase.

Illinois investors

buy S.R. 64 Walgreens

Buyer: Constantine and Joan Drugas, Frankfort, Ill.

Seller: Plum Grove Development Associates Inc.

Property: 4210 S.R. 64 E., Bradenton

Price: $3 million

Previous Price: $695,000, June 1998

Law firm on deed: Martin & Martin PA, Lakeland

Plans, description: Constantine and Joan Drugas of Frankfort, Ill., purchased a building on State Road 64 leased by a Walgreens drug store.

"It really was just an investment," Joan Drugas says. According to the Manatee County Property Appraiser's office, the 6-year-old building is about 15,000 square feet and had a just value for the 2004 tax year of $2.5 million.

Newport Homes

buys new office

Buyer: Newport Offices LLC, Englewood,

Seller: George Kelce

Property: 565 Paul Morris Drive, Englewood

Price: $550,000

Previous Price: $431,900, April 2005

Title firm on deed: Coastal Security Title Inc., Englewood

Plans, description: Newport Contracting & Development Inc. and Newport Homes Inc. are relocating from a 2,500-square-foot property on Spinnaker Boulevard in Englewood to a 6,000-square-foot office on Paul Morris Drive.

"This should allow everybody to be more centralized," says Tim McGee, general manager of Newport. "We wanted a place that could handle our huge growth for the future."

The company, which builds new homes and commercial buildings, currently employs 27 people.

Manatee Fruit Co. buys golf course

Buyer: Terra Ceia Bay Clubhouse and Golf LLC (principal Whiting Preston), Palmetto

Seller: Old Florida Golf LC

Property: 2311 14th Ave. W., Palmetto

Price: $545,000

Previous Price: $500,000, August 2001

Title company on deed: Barnes Walker Title Inc.

Plans, description: Palmetto-based Manatee Fruit Co. has purchased the semi-private Terra Ceia Bay clubhouse and 18-hole golf course in Palmetto. The clubhouse is 13,000 square feet and includes five tennis courts, a fitness center, a pool and spa and a restaurant.

"Since we were developing land within the community, we felt that it was just a natural fit for us to own and run the largest amenity in the community," says Whiting Preston, operator and one of the owners of Manatee Fruit Co. "It wasn't that complex; this is just another business for us to run. We are looking at making some changes there, but we are going through our evaluation process right now and should be done pretty soon."

Manatee Fruit Co.'s first development planned for the community is Bay Ponte at Terra Ceia Bay Country Club, a 36-unit, six-story over parking condominium tower.

"We should have the first one completed by next spring," Preston says. "We are also building two more (condominium buildings) called Bay Club. We should begin construction on them this year."

Etc...

• Launiversal TeleCommunity Services Inc. leased 1,000 square feet at 4034 N. Washington Blvd., Sarasota, from Houghton-Wagman Partnership Ltd. for $12.19 per square foot. Larry Schaper, of The Commercial Group of Michael Saunders & Co., handled both sides of the transaction.

• Tampa-based Windward Homes purchased two large swathes of land on Buckeye and Center roads, Parrish, in separate transactions from Robert Gagne and R&J Acres LLC for $20 million. The company has announced plans to build 667 single-family homes and 124 townhomes in a project called Stone Dam Preserve and to create 169 home sites in a development called Wellington Lake Manor. The homebuilder hopes to start construction early next year. Windward mortgaged the two parcels to Ohio Savings Bank for $24 million.

• TmSquared Inc. bought unassigned property in Terra Ceia from Bayside Subdivision LLC for $1.25 million. State records list Michael Kennedy and Tricial Pursley, both of St. Petersburg, and Michael McClanathan, of Palmetto, as the officers for TmSquared. Calls to all three were not returned before deadline. TmSquared Inc. mortgaged the land to the former owner for $1.25 million.

• Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities Inc.'s Venetian Golf and River Club won an Aurora Award for green construction at the 2005 Southeastern Builders Conference during the 27th annual awards ceremony. The all "green" community won the production model award for the Rosa model home.

• Naples-based WilsonMiller Inc., was ranked 29th on The Zweig Letter Hot Firm 2005 List of the 100 fastest-growing architecture, engineering and environmental consulting firms in the United States. The Zweig Letter is an industry management adviser publication. The ranking is based on an evaluation of WilsonMiller's three-year performance record, which considered both dollar and percentage growth. The 2005 List marks the third year that WilsonMiller has been included. The company has offices in Naples, Fort Myers, Port Charlotte, Sarasota, Tampa, North Tampa, Tallahassee, Destin and Panama City Beach.