Real Estate Briefs-Sara/Mana

Real Estate Briefs

Sarasota/Manatee

de Morgan Homes creating Villages of Avignon

BUYER: Avignon Holdings LLC (Robert and Derrick Barwick, Richard Bedford and Walter Stampor), Palmetto

SELLER: Grimes Groves Inc.

PROPERTY: property on 16th and 24th Ave. East and 33rd and 37th Street East, Palmetto

PRICE: $14.1 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Grimes Goebel Grimes Hawkins Gladfelter & Galvano PL, Bradenton

SELLER: Gwen and Max Schlotfelt

PROPERTY: 4612 16th Ave. E., Palmetto

PRICE: $1 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Porges Hamlin Knowles Prouty Thompson & Najmy PA, Bradenton

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Palmetto-based de Morgan Homes purchased six parcels totaling about 250 acres along 29th Street, 24th Avenue and Mendoza and Canal streets.

Robert Barwick, chairman of de Morgan Companies USA, says three of the parcels are contiguous and the remainder is located close to each other. de Morgan Homes plans to brand the entire region Villages of Avignon and to develop the parcels as individual subdivisions, named after areas in France.

The homebuilder is renaming the 190-home Oak View development - which it started before acquiring the additional property - Carpentras at Villages of Avignon. Including that parcel, the entire Villages of Avignon will be about 350 acres. After Carpentras, the next two communities will be named Lauris and Cadenet.

"Two of the parcels have been approved and another one is coming up before the [Manatee County] commission soon," Barwick says. "The aggregate of the property that has been approved is probably 400 homes, but I expect the rest of the property will be another 1,000 single-family homes or townhomes."

Barwick expects to reach total buildout by 2010 to 2011.

de Morgan Homes expects to price about one-fourth of the homes in the project to meet the county's affordable home designation, currently $130,000 to $160,000; the remainder of the homes will likely run from about $160,000 to the low $300,000s.

de Morgan Homes mortgage the property to SunTrust Bank for $5 million.

Kaplan, Bennett, others

buy land for subdivision

BUYER: 801 Post Road LLC (60%),720 Corp. (Marvin Kaplan) (20%) and MSB Investments LLC (Michael Bennett) (20%), Sarasota

SELLER: Randy and Helaine Giddens

PROPERTY: 1010 117th St. E., Bradenton

PRICE: $1.53 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $925,000, August 2005

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Dunlap & Moran PA, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Sarasota developer Marvin Kaplan, developer and state Sen. Michael Bennett and 801 Post Road LLC, an investment group from Westchester County, N.Y., purchased 14 acres and a home east of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard on State Road 64.

Kaplan says the group plans to subdivide it into 25 to 26 single-family lots, and sales could being in about a year, after approvals. He estimates that prices for homes in the community would range from $400,000 to $600,000.

The new owners mortgaged the property to People's Community Bank of the West Coast for $865,000.

Investors buy

Ellenton Sleep Inn

BUYER: Vertical Assets Group Ellenton LLC, Sarasota

SELLER: Lotus Cleaners LLC

PROPERTY: 5605 E. 18th St., Ellenton

PRICE: $5.1 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $2.87 million, February 2005

TITLE FIRM ON DEED: Barnes Walker Title Inc., Bradenton

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An investment group purchased the 67-unit Sleep Inn & Suites Riverfront in Ellenton. A manger for the hotel says the group has suggested it may look into remodeling the property at a later date, but no other changes are planned.

LAKESIDE SITE WORK BEGINS

Site work has started on Lakeside, a 119-unit condominium located on the northwest corner of Tuttle Avenue and the new Myrtle Street Extension in Sarasota. Lakeside, being developed by Atlanta-based White & Associates, will consist of six three-story buildings overlooking five lakes. All of the residences will have water views.

The development will feature elevator service and trash chutes in each building. Community amenities include a resort-style pool, a health and fitness center and a clubhouse with a meeting/entertainment room and indoor and outdoor kitchens.

The first residences are scheduled for completion at the end of 2006. Final completion of the project is slated for the spring of 2007. Pre-construction prices range from $284,900 to $324,900.

Lakeside residences range from 1,168 to 1,327 square feet.

Des Moines, Iowa-based Bloodgood Sharp Buster designed Lakeside.

White & Associates recently sold out Park View, a 108-unit condominium conversion in Sarasota, and has begun work on Grand Oaks, a 96-unit condominium conversion in Tampa.

Etc...

• Ferguson Enterprises Inc. leased 16,000 square feet at 3114 63rd Ave. East in Bradenton from Arrow Realty for five years. Ian Black and Debbie Anglin of Ian Black Real Estate and Advantis Real Estate Services Co. handled the transaction.

• Arcaform Designs, LLC leased 9,000 square feet at 2201 Industrial Blvd. in Sarasota from T.A.C. LLC for three years. Debbie Anglin and Lori Conable of Ian Black Real Estate and Marcia Cuttler of American Property Group handled the transaction.

• Umesh & Gira Patel leased 2,100 square feet for a new Wet Cleaning Garment Care Center at 1214 36th Ave. East in the Ellenton Gillette Business Center from Sun Bay Properties Inc. Debbie Anglin of Ian Black Real Estate handled the transaction for the five-year lease.

• The Sarasota County Commission awarded a $5.5 million contract to E.T. MacKenzie of Florida Inc. for construction of the Colonia Lane improvement project. Up to an additional $223,800 will be awarded for early completion of the project. The roadway project stretches almost a mile, from Nash Avenue to Albee Farm Road, and includes reconstruction of the roadway and the addition of bicycle lanes, sidewalks, streetlights and a water line.

Funding will be provided partially by the county's penny sales tax.

• Sarasota-based Willis A. Smith Construction Inc. has been selected by the Sarasota Opera Association to serve as the contractor for the major remodeling of the existing theatre. Initial services will include pre-construction services during the design phase. The architect for the project is Killis Almond of San Antonio, Texas.

• John Cannon Homes, a homebuilder with $132 million in annual sales, relocated its offices from south Sarasota to Lakewood Ranch Corporate Park. The 58,000 square-foot, three-story headquarters, will allow the company to increase its staff and offer a 4,000-square-foot Design Center, located on the first floor. The second and third floors are reserved for Cannon's 93 employees.

The project also includes 19,450 square feet of rentable office space. Possible tenant spaces will range in size from 2,500 to 7,000 square feet.

"Two adjacent lots were for sale that were completely surrounded by lakes and wetlands" says John Cannon, company president. "We needed only one for our new headquarters, but we hated the thought of another building going up next door with a totally different look. So we bought both lots and built one large building."