A Buying Binz

A Buying Binz

One of the last remaining pre-World War II commercial buildings in downtown Sarasota is up for sale.

commercial real estate by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

From fur coats to rugs to moths - lots of moths - the Binz Building, just outside downtown Sarasota, has had an eclectic bunch of tenants and occupants over the last 82 years.

Now the 12,000-square-foot building, one of only a few pre-World War II commercial structures still standing in Sarasota, is seeking a new owner.

Its current owner, local entrepreneur Jim Robison, put the building on the market almost a year ago, asking $2.7 million.

"It's almost like buying an exotic sports car or a vintage automobile," Robison says. "In Sarasota, a building like this just can't be had."

Sarasota developer and construction executive Frank Binz built the building in 1926 on 10th Street and Orange Avenue. The two-story structure was built with solid brick and the roof is made of concrete. "It's built like a tank," says Anthony Migliore, a Coldwell Banker commercial real estate agent who is listing the property.

The building was most recently home to JKL Design Group, a Sarasota-based commercial and residential interior design firm. JKL moved out late last year, soon after Robison sold the building the first time, in a deal that collapsed prior to closing.

But long before JKL or Robison, who bought the building and another adjacent property for $600,000 in 1997, the Binz Building was known as the local source for de-mothing. That is, customers would bring in their fur coats, other clothing and even furniture and place them in the building's Plymetl Vault - a steel container built like a safe that was commonly used in the early 1900s to protect clothes and other materials from insects, fire and theft.

The airtight vault would extinguish all the moths and bugs on any material within 24 hours, the Binz Building's owners promised.

The Binz Building has changed in many respects since then. For starters, Robison added amenities such as air conditioning, new lighting and high-speed Internet connections. But much of the building's initial character and features remain, such as two floors of exposed brick walls, most of the original windows and a hand-pulled Otis elevator. Despite its age, the building is not registered under any of the city's historical designations.

Robison and Migliore are banking on finding a buyer that wants to capitalize on those features while running their company, which they say can be anything from an architecture company to a law firm. Robison says he's not opposed to leasing the building, although he would only do that for one tenant, not piecemeal. The lease price would likely be about $10-$12 a square foot.

The building is zoned as industrial/light warehouse/office and its potential uses can be expanded to include a sports bar or a restaurant, Migliore says. The broker is marketing the property as such, reaching out to other brokers from Miami to Atlanta through an e-mail heavy marketing campaign that utilizes YouTube videos of the building.

Robison initially put the building up for sale last October, in a move to reap some cash and to focus on his other businesses, which include a used car lot, a furniture manufacturing plant and an antique and estate furniture store, all based in Sarasota. Robison also owns several residential rental properties near downtown Sarasota, as well as a construction and general contracting firm, Level One.

Over the last decade, Robison says he's put about $1 million into the Binz Building and the warehouse he owns directly behind it, which is currently home to Unlimited Resource of Sarasota, the estate furniture store he operates.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Businesses. Binz Building, Sarasota

Industry. Commercial real estate

Key. The owner of the 82-year-old building is seeking a buyer.