North Port executive buys Center

BUYER: NP Pan Am Center LLC, Punta Gorda

SELLER: OB Pan American LLC

PROPERTY: 5690 and 5900 Pan American Blvd., North Port

PRICE: $2.5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $539,100, August 2005 and $487,900, October 2004

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Retirement home operator Zia Butt purchased the Pan American Professional Center for $2.5 million.

The price equated to $86 per square foot.

The property includes a three-story 21,613-square-foot building and a two-story 7,600-square-foot building.

Butt says he was attracted to the property as an investment. The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee recently leased 6,420 square feet in the larger building.

“The real estate and price was good and that property has always interested me — even more so because of the University of South Florida,” Butt says. “Now they are just taking one floor, but they will likely end up taking more.”

The complex has 10,000 square feet of vacant space.

Butt is CEO of North Port Retirement Center Inc., which owns and operates North Port Pines, Gardens of North Port and Sandhill Gardens. He also owns the 9,200-square-foot Seminole Lakes Plaza in Punta Gorda.

The purchase entity NP Pan Am Center LLC mortgaged the property to Calusa National Bank for $870,086.