Real Estate Briefs

Real Estate Briefs

SARASOTA/MANATEE

Drew Northport Investments buys 514 acres

BUYER: Drew Northport Investments LLC (principal Michael Dinkel), Orlando

SELLERS: Carlton Sarasota LLC, Davis Sarasota LLC, Pallardy Sarasota LLC, and Northport Commercial Interchange LLC

PROPERTY: 514 acres at Interstate-75 and Toledo Blade Boulevard, North Port

PRICE: $36.1 million

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Drew Northport Investments purchased 514 acres on Toledo Blade Boulevard in North Port. The property is north across Toledo Blade from Benderson Development Co., Ruben Properties Inc. and Neal Communities' Panacea commercial/residential property.

Excluding wetlands, the property contains about 270 acres of developable land. The purchase price breaks down to $133,703 per acre or $3.07 a square foot, looking at what can be developed.

"That's a pretty good value," says Patrick Berman of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented the sellers along with Bruce Erhardt. "What happened is he bought such a large parcel of land that it reduced the per square foot price. It was really a fair deal for both sides."

The new owner says the property will be developed in a mixture of office, retail and residential space.

Sarasota developer

buys School Avenue land

BUYER: Quincy Investments LLC (Ronald Burks), Sarasota

SELLER: Joan Lovingood

PROPERTY: 295 S. School Ave., Sarasota

PRICE: $4.54 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $55,000, January 1976

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Williams Parker Harrison Dietz & Getzen, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Sarasota developer Ron Burks purchased some old industrial buildings and a former Scotty's Hardware store on 9.5 acres on School Avenue. Burks plans to develop a total of 478 condominium units on the site.

"It's going to be at least a year before we start because of all the various zoning efforts we have to go through," Burks says.

Burks hopes to get downtown multi-use zoning for the property. In the early approval process, Burks says he plans to partner with Habitat For Humanity to develop a building of about 150 affordable housing units. Sarasota Memorial Hospital is working with Burks to reserve a certain percentage of the units for hospital employees.

Howard Johnson owners

acquire portion of existing land

BUYER: Satya Inc. (Parkash and Daxa Patel), Sarasota

SELLER: Olive and Roy Dement, as trustees

PROPERTY: 855 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

PRICE: $1.5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $459,500, October 1989

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

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Parkash and Daxa Patel, who own the 56-unit Howard Johnson at 811 S Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, purchased the land that houses 24 units.

"When we bought the land for the hotel, we had to sign a lease agreement for that half," Daxa Patel says. "It was part of our agreement that we would eventually purchase it outright."

The motel owners mortgaged the property to First Priority Bank for $1.3 million.

Re/Max expands

Sarasota-based Re/Max Properties merged with Re/Max Executives in North Port. Re/Max Executives will now operate under the Re/Max Properties banner.

"We have been interested in expanding into the North Port market for some time now," says Peter Crowley, president of RE/MAX Properties. "We felt that Re/Max Executives was a great fit because of [its] strong foundation and talented sales force."

The merger will increase Re/Max Properties sales force to 340 associates in six offices. Re/Max Properties will be the sole full-service Re/Max franchise in the region.

Re/Max Properties will move from its current location on Toledo Blade Boulevard to a new, 6,000-square-foot office on U.S. 41 and Sumter Boulevard this summer. The new facility will house up to 50 associates.

Etc...

• Synovus University Investment LLC purchased a 35,719-square-foot lot at 2391 University Parkway, Sarasota, from Pearl Partners LLC for $1 million. Ian Black and Steve Horn of Ian Black Real Estate and Adam Buskirk of Icon Realty handled the transaction.

• Goetz Cabinets and Counter Tops, LLC leased 2,500 square feet at 1211 E. First St., Bradenton from Sunergy Corp. for three years. Debbie Anglin of Ian Black Real Estate handled the transaction.

• Ferguson Enterprises Inc. leased 11,250 square feet at the Sarasota International Trade Center in Sarasota from Central Plaza LLC for 10 years. Debbie Anglin of Ian Black Real Estate and Advantis Real Estate Co. handled the transaction.

LEE/COLLIER

Health Care Property to buy CNL Properties

Health care industry real-estate investment trust Health Care Property Investors Inc. plans to buy Orlando's CNL Retirement Properties for $3.6 billion. CNL, an unlisted REIT, owns about 200 senior housing properties - with 11 located between Tampa and Naples.

When the deal closes at the end of the third quarter, Health Care Property Investors will own about 800 properties in 44 states.

CNL properties in the Gulf Coast include Balmoral of Palm Harbor; BayCare Health headquarters, Clearwater; Brighton Gardens, Tampa; Encore Senior Village, Clearwater; Encore Senior Village, Fort Myers; Encore Senior Village and HarborChase, both of Naples; HarborChase of Venice, Largo; and Waterside Retirement Estates, Sarasota.

In early 2004, CNL acquired the portfolio of Horizon Bay Senior Communities in Tampa for about $537.5 million. The acquisition covered 19 senior housing properties with about 3,400 units in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Rhode Island and Texas.

Naples' Stock Development

chosen for Murdock Village

Naples-based developers Stock Development was awarded the contract for the Murdock Village Redevelopment project for about 1,130 acres in Charlotte County. The top four development teams vying for the project were Forest City Land Group, Kitson & Partners, Falcon Land Group and Stock Development. Stock Development was awarded the project after a final vote by the Charlotte County Commission acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Stock Development's plan features a 17-acre town hall site anchored by a band shell and a lake. The town hall is part of an 80-acre town center along State Road 776 that will include stores and upper-level residential units. The overall plan will create 1.722 million square feet of commercial space and several neighborhoods.

The financials of the Stock proposal called for payments of $82 million and $12.6 million in interest by 2018.

Stock Development is just one of the Stock family of companies which includes Stock Construction, Stock Realty, Stock Property Management, Stock Community Services, Pizzazz Interiors, Serenity Pool & Spa, Noble Title & Trust and Stock Financial.

The Murdock Village redevelopment project has been controversial because the county spent about $90 million acquiring the property from private landowners.

Naples Lumber, Supply

invests in Fort Myers site

BUYER: Naples Lumber and Supply Co. Inc. (principals: Ron Labbe, William Lutz and Marion Putnam), Naples

SELLER: Wayside Industrial Inc.

PROPERTY: Parcel on Domestic Road, Fort Myers

PRICE: $4.57 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $43.66 million, February 2006 (included additional parcels)

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Garlick Stetler & Pepples LLP, Naples

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Naples Lumber & Supply Co. purchased 15 acres off Alico Road on Domestic Road in Fort Myers. The property was bought as an investment, says Ron Labbe, president of Naples Lumber.

"It's always location, location, location, but there's really not much industrial land left in Collier County," Labbe says.

The company is a retailer of lumber and other wood supplies directed primarily at contractors.

OFFICE SPACE

CC Turner of Fort Myers announced plans to develop 75,000 square feet of office space and 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of medical office space, in a complex called Fiddlesticks Village, at 13800 Fiddlesticks Blvd., Fort Myers. The development is located near a Rib City Restaurant; a Publix-anchored shopping area, a Colonial Bank and is less than a mile from Fiddlesticks Country Club, The Renaissance and The Paseo. The developer hired ACRI Engineering of Fort Myers to do the engineering and McHarris Planning & Design to perform the land planning and design.

The project is slated to start in early 2007.

Etc...

• Cameratta Properties purchased 5,860 acres in DeSoto County. The property, formerly known as the Carlton 2 x 4 Ranch, is just south of Arcadia, along two miles of State Road 31 and is the latest in a series of major development ventures underway for Cameratta Properties in southwest Florida. Cameratta Properties plans to continue to operate the site as a nine-square-mile citrus, sod and cattle ranch until the conceptual planning for a future master planned community is designed. Cameratta Properties is also developing First Street Village and High Point Place in downtown Fort Myers.

• Fort Myers-based Stevens Construction Inc. completed construction of a 36-bed expansion at Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center in Sebring. The project comprises more than 50,000 square feet of new construction, including 36 patient rooms and related support space, as well as 25,000 square feet of flex space. Designed by HuntonBrady Architects, the expansion project brings the hospital's total number of beds to 147.

• The land has been cleared for Stock Development's new 49,000-square-foot corporate headquarters on Immokalee Road in the Northbrooke Professional Village. Sheely Architects designed and Gates McVey will construct the new building. The currentl headquarters are at 4501 Tamiami Trail N., Suite 300, Naples.

• Bonita Springs-based McGarvey Development started construction on a single-story Class-A office building at Riverview Corporate Center in Bonita Springs. The planned 7,025-square-foot building is being listed for lease at $20-a-square-foot plus operating expenses. McGarvey will provide furnished offices, with an allowance of $35 per square foot. The building is slated for completion in early summer 2006.

• Florida Cooling Supply Inc. leased 33,000 square feet of industrial space at 10995 Metro Parkway, Fort Myers, from Calvin Wible. Randal Mercer of CB Richard Ellis, Fort Myers-Naples, represented the landlord, and Jim Boback of Re/Max Realty Group represented the tenant.

• Fort Myers-based D'Alessandro & Woodyard Property Management Services LLC has expanded its services to include property management for commercial and residential properties. Additional management services include tenant screening, maintenance, construction & development, security, third-party management, administration and personalized services to a diversified clientele base.

• Cameratta Properties opened a design center, CP Interiors, to provide private selection consultations and interior design services to future residents of High Point Place and First Street Village.

TAMPA

Redstone buys former Winn Dixie

BUYER: JLB Gunn LLC, Youngstown, Ohio

SELLER: Watkins Investment Ltd. Partner

PROPERTY: 5715 Gunn Highway, Tampa

PRICE: $5.28 million

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Youngstown, Ohio-based Redstone Investments acquired the 48,000-square-foot former Winn Dixie store on Gunn Highway in Tampa. The company is considering a number of different tenants to fill the space, says spokesman Jonathan Levy.

Redstone Investments is also currently developing the 449,260-square-foot Suncoast Crossings retail project just off State Road 54 in Odessa. That project will house a Super Target, Chili's, Starbucks, McDonalds, Bank of America, Shell and Goodyear.

The real estate development firm also owns the 64,240-square-foot Gladiolus Crossing in Fort Myers, anchored by a Sweetbay Supermarket. Late last year, the company opened a Tampa office.

First Industrial Realty

buys 19 buildings

Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. acquired a 19-building, 500,000-square-foot portfolio of properties in the Tampa region. The portfolio is comprised of research and development/flex and industrial service center properties located in five Pinellas County business parks: Bryan Dairy Business Park, Cross Bayou Commerce Center, Pinebrook Business Center, Starkey and Turtle Creek.

"Over the past five years, First Industrial has owned, operated and managed more than three million square feet of R&D/Flex facilities in the Tampa area and this portfolio complements our existing holdings," Bob Krueger, regional director for First Industrial's Central Florida region, states in a press release. "This portfolio represented an excellent opportunity to acquire functional flex space in a market with significant land constraints that limit new development."

First Industrial currently owns and manages more than 2.5 million square feet in Central Florida

The company owns, operates and has under development more than 100 million square feet of industrial real estate in markets throughout the United States.

Oak Bend buys

Buccaneer Plaza

BUYER: Oak Bend Mobile Home Park Inc. (principal Anthony Sutter), Tampa

SELLER: Dennis Ruppel

PROPERTY: 6661 49th St. N., Pinellas Park

PRICE: $2.15 million

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Anthony Sutter's Oak Bend Mobile Home Park Inc. purchased the 21,636-square-foot Buccaneer Plaza in Pinellas Park. The boutique strip center is completely full. The purchase works out to $99.37 a square foot, somewhat on the higher side of what retail properties tend to go for in the city. Part of the reason for that was the financial condition of the center, with a 7% cap rate, and the potential upside of some below-market rents.

Adam Wells and David Wells of Marcus & Millichap handled the transaction.

Etc...

• St. Petersburg-based The Sembler Co. and Treasure Properties sold a 13,000-square-foot CVS drug store, located in Mobile, Ala., to Cole CV Mobile AL LLC.

The Sembler Co. has developed more than 150 free standing drug stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and New York in the last decade.

• The Sembler Co. and Steven D. Bell and Co. opened Edgewood Retail District at the intersection of Moreland Avenue and Caroline Street in Atlanta.

• St. Petersburg developer Jimmy Aviram and the development company B.S.R. Group announced The Arts of St. Petersburg, two 31-story condominium towers, anchored by the Arts Center and a collection by artist Dale Chihuly.

• Developer David Meunier is renovating an 81-year-old Mediterranean building into the 12-unit Casa Nina condominium, at 32515th Ave., N.E., in St. Petersburg.

Designed to capture the first-time homebuyer, each of the 650-square-foot units will be priced from the middle $150,000 range, with the monthly condominium maintenance fees set to run up to $100.

Redstone buys former Winn Dixie