Commercial Real Estate

Commercial Real Estate

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Sarasota/Manatee

Venice hotel owners acquire local Holiday Inn

BUYER: Best Southwestern Motels Inc. (principals; Bernard, Steven and Linda LeBlanc), Venice

SELLER: Venice H.I. Inc.

PROPERTY: Holiday Inn, 455 N. U.S. 41 Bypass, Venice

PRICE: $10 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $4.68 million, March 1999

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Hoteliers Bernard, Steven and Linda LeBlanc purchased the Holiday Inn hotel in Venice for $7 million.

The LeBlancs also own the Venice Days Inn and the Veranda Inn - Venice.

"It's our third motel in Venice, which has obviously been a good tourism area, which makes this a good business to be in," Steven LaBlanc says. "The Holiday Inn also has a 13,000-square-foot restaurant [the Harmony House] and banquet facility. It can seat about 600. So obviously having those banquet facilities will in turn help our other two properties."

Best Southwestern Motels Inc. mortgaged the Holiday Inn property to Century Bank for $7.04 million and to the former owner Venice H.I. Inc. for $1 million.

Ocean Properties buys Lido resort, plans major renovations

BUYER: Boca Raton Title Insurance Co. Inc. (principal: Joseph Keeley), Boca Raton

SELLER: Calpac Inc.

PROPERTY: 700 Benjamin Franklin Drive, Sarasota

PRICE: $62.5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $8.4 million, November 1994

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties Ltd. Hotels & Resorts purchased the 222-room Lido Beach Resort. The hospitality company has announced plans to renovate the resort's rooms, public space and 6,000 square feet of meeting space.

Ocean Properties, Ltd. also owns the Hilton Longboat Key and the Holiday Inn Lido Beach.

"The property is one of the area's top resorts and will provide great synergistic opportunities," says Andy Berger, vice president of operations for Ocean Properties Ltd.

Ocean Properties, Ltd. Hotels & Resorts is one of the country's largest privately owned franchisers of hotels and resorts.

Boca Raton Title Insurance mortgaged the Lido Beach Resort property to the former owner, Calpac, for $60 million.

Etc...

• N. J. Olivieri's Horizon Mortgage Corp. handled the $6.8 million refinance of the Silverstein Institute on Floyd Street in Sarasota. The 29,797-square-foot Class-A medical office building was built in 2003 and is home to the Silverstein Institute. Horizon Mortgage Corp. served as the mortgage banker.

• Sarasota County purchased about 21 acres of vacant land on 17th Street in Sarasota from Dr. Stephen and Eva Berkes for $3.15 million. Barry Seidel, of American Property Group of Sarasota Inc., represented the seller.

• J. Kevin and Diane Drake purchased a 2,500-square-foot retail building at 2615 Mall Drive, Sarasota, from John and Jill Illes for $425,000. Barry Seidel, of American Property Group of Sarasota Inc., handled the transaction.

• SITC Inc. purchased 1.8 acres at 2930 McCall Road, Englewood from SRG Associates for $$1.35 million. Barry Seidel, of American Property Group of Sarasota Inc., handled the transaction.

• Pilates of Sarasota leased 2,000 square feet of retail space at 7668 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota from MRTH Inc. Barry Seidel and Michael Witt, both of American Property Group of Sarasota Inc., handled the transaction.

• Sarasota County purchased a 129-acre parcel in the Old Miakka protection priority site near the eastern end of Fruitville Road for a little more than $4.1 million as part of the county's Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program. The 1,374-acre Old Miakka protection priority site extends south to Myakka River State Park and contains lands protected by the Crowley Museum and Nature Center and The Great Outdoors Conservancy.

Lee/Collier

McKibbon buys land in Gulf Coast Town Center

BUYER: MHG of Fort Myers Florida #3 LLC (principal McKibbon Hotel Group Inc.), Gainesville, Ga.

SELLER: JG Gulf Coast Town Center LLC

PROPERTY: 10000-28 Gulf Coast Dr., Fort Myers

PRICE: $3.2 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Thomas Hine LLP, Cleveland, Ohio

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: McKibbon Hotel Group purchased land in the middle of the Gulf Coast Town Center lifestyle project being developed by Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates Properties Inc., to develop a 134-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel. The hotel, which will also house meeting space, a pool and fitness facility, is slated to open in late 2007, according to Lynn Prater, corporate director of sales and marketing for McKibbon Hotel Management Inc. in Tampa.

"We already have hotels in Fort Myers," Prater says. "We own the Residence Inn and the Springhill Suites that just opened. We also manage the Hilton Garden Inn. So you could say we recognize the area is growing and vibrant, and we want to be a part of the community and economic development that is taking place."

According to CBL & Associates Properties, Gulf Coast Town Center is planned in several phases for a total of 1.651 million square feet of commercial space.

MHG of Fort Myers Florida #3 LLC mortgaged the property to Regions Bank for a total of $12.4 million.

Etc...

• Corkscrew Stoneybrook Retail, LLC and ASAP Storage on Corkscrew LC purchased 11 acres at Corkscrew Road and Stoneybrook in Estero from US Home Corp. for $3.97 million. A portion of the property will be developed into a 100,000-square-foot self-storage complex, and the balance will be re-sold. Paul Sands of VIP Commercial-TCN worldwide negotiated the transaction and will be handling the re-sales.

• Fort Myers-based Fowler Construction and Development Inc. broke ground on a new, 5,000-square-foot theme restaurant building for JavaMoon Cafe on Daniels Parkway near Appaloosa Lane in Fort Myers.

• Westcor Land Title Insurance Company leased a 2,253-square-foot office in the Retina Health Center at 1567 Hayley Lane, unit D, Fort Myers from Blue Water Holdings, LLC. Tim Colen and Nathan Sheppard of Gates D'Alessandro & Woodyard LLC, Realtors negotiated the transaction.

• Fort Myers-based Fowler Construction and Development Inc. has been retained under a five-year continuing services contract with the Lehigh Acres Fire District to provide construction management services for the district's upcoming construction plans. Fowler's role will include new site feasibility reviews, renovation feasibility reviews of some existing facilities, permitting, design coordination, and construction management.

• Fort-Myers-based Stevens Construction Inc. completed construction of Parker Commons, on Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers. Designed by Sheeley Architects Inc., the 88,500-square-foot condominium office park consists of one two-story, 21,000-square-foot building and nine single-story, 7,500-square-foot buildings that encircle a central bell tower and water fountain.

• Fort Myers-based Fowler Construction and Development Inc. broke ground on a new two-story, 15,000-square-foot office building for Speath Engineering on Summerlin Boulevard, south of Cypress Lake Drive. The building is scheduled for completion in early 2007.

• Community Engineering Services completed its surveying and engineering services work on The Renaissance Center, a three-story 65,000-square-foot Class A office building near Daniels Parkway and I-75 in Fort Myers.

• Olympic Stone purchased a 2,376-square-foot office/showroom/warehouse in the Jetport Commerce Center at 13720 Jetport Commerce Parkway, Unit 9, Fort Myers, from William Null for $435,000. Tim Colen of Gates D'Alessandro & Woodyard LLC, Realtors represented the seller. William Null, of Omni Realty Group of Southwest Florida, represented the buyer.

• Dr. Patrick Flaharty purchased an office condo at 13470 Parker Commons Boulevard, building 1 in Fort Myers from Southgate Village, LLC for $1.65 million. Tim Colen of Gates D'Alessandro & Woodyard LLC Realtors represented the buyer. Jeffrey Hossler and Michael McNamara of ReMax Realty Group represented the seller.

• Julio Camacho purchased a 1.74-acre commercial site at the corner of State Road 82 and Alabama Road in Lehigh Acres from Edison Oil Company for $550,000. Cooper Huff and Hal Arkin of Gates D'Alessandro & Woodyard LLC Realtors represented the seller. Maria Candelaino of The Realty Group represented the buyer.

• Czaia & Gallagher, P.A. leased a 2,592-square-foot office in the Sunrise Office Center at 12381 South Cleveland Ave., Suite 205 in Fort Myers from G5 Properties, LLC. The law firm has 10 additional offices throughout Southwest Florida.

Gary Tasman and Enn Luthringer of VIP Commercial-TCN Worldwide negotiated the transaction.

Tampa Bay

Barfield Bay Properties buys Terrace Pointe

BUYER: Tampa Terrace Pointe 1-3, LLC, Tampa

SELLER: Tampa Terrace Pointe Apartments LLC

PROPERTY: 11613 and 11305 N 50th St., Tampa

PRICE: $13 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $10.6 million, January 2005

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Naples Barfield Bay Properties purchased the 240-unit Terrace Pointe Apartments complex in Tampa for $13 million or $54,166 per unit. Darron Kattan and Andrew Wright of the Tampa office of Marcus & Millichap handled both sides of the transaction.

According to Kattan, Barfield, which already has a large apartment portfolio, is particularly fond of the rental growth and demand level for properties in the Tampa Bay market.

"[Terrace Pointe] was located in a pretty good location, it just needed a lot of physical and management work to turn it around," Kattan says. "It just hadn't been managed as well as it should have. There is a lot of upside. The price was definitely appealing as well. Typically people are paying anywhere from $80,000 to $60,000 a unit. So anything under that is pretty appealing."

Most of the actual renovation will focus on the curb-side appeal items, including the wood exterior of the buildings, painting, landscaping, irrigation and other deferred maintenance items. The complex is next door to the Museum of Science and Industry and across the street from the University of South Florida. 

Kattan predicted the complex would generate about 20% income growth in the next 12 months for Barfield.

Hillsborough Community College buys former Alterman building

BUYER: District Board Trustees HCC, Tampa

SELLER: Baytrans LLC

PROPERTY: 5610 E Columbus Drive, Tampa

PRICE: $5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.9 million August 2004

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The board of trustees for Hillsborough Community College purchased a 71,838-square-foot former Alterman Trucking warehouse building. The industrial building, constructed in 1971, is located on 31 acres of general commercial land in Tampa. Officials for the college reported that in the short term, the school plans to relocate some of its programs from a leased location in Ybor City to the Columbus Drive building.

Etc...

• Tampa-based National Payment Corp. purchased a 5,040-square-foot office building at 3415 W. Cypress St. in Tampa from West Cypress Street Properties LLC of Tampa for $1.27 million. David Box of Colliers Arnold Commercial Real Estate Services' Tampa office represented the buyer, and Brian Williamson of Ciminelli Real Estate represented the seller.

• D.R. Horton in the Tampa Bay region announced plans to build 120 "affordable" condominiums known as Hidden River Condominiums, off Fletcher Avenue and Hidden River Parkway in Tampa. The condominiums will range in size from 700-1,000 square feet and will be priced in the mid $100,000s.