Saltwater Heritage buys Cortez property

Saltwater Heritage buys Cortez property

BUYER: Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage Inc. (principals: David Zaccagrino, Allen Garner, John Stevely, Sheila Mora and Karen Bell), Cortez

SELLER: Cortez Church of God

PROPERTY: 4515 W. 124th St., Bradenton

PRICE: $245,000

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Greene Hamrick Perrey Quinlan & Schermer PA, Bradenton

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) purchased three historic buildings in the Cortez Commercial Fishing Village from Cortez Church of God for $245,000.

The 0.4-acre property contains a church, Sunday school building and parsonage. The property is covered by a historical overlay district, and it was listed on the national registry of historic places, according to Roger Allen, Cortez historic site manger for the Clerk of the Circuit Court's Historical Resources Department.

“Our goal was to preserve the buildings while taking advantage of the parking lot for the [Cortez] Commercial Fishing Festival,” Allen says. “We are going to use the Sunday school for secure storage of some of the [Florida] Maritime Museum's collections. We're also looking at possibly having some [rental] office space there. The church itself is particularly important for us because we hold a lot of community meetings.” FISH is considering using the parsonage as rental space and plans to install a new roof on the Sunday school building along with other improvements.

Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage Inc. mortgaged the property to First America Bank for $245,000.