Ringling College buys West Marine building, lots

BUYER: Ringling College of Art and Design Inc., Sarasota

SELLER: S. Sy Sherr and Linda Sherr and Robert and Rona Kantor

PROPERTY: 3140 N. Tamiami Trail, 1032 32nd St. and 1075 Patterson Road, Sarasota

PRICE: $1.25 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Kimbrough & Koach LLP, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The Ringling College of Art and Design purchased the 9,720-square-foot former West Marine building and two residential lots for $1.25 million.

The price equated to $129 a square foot for the building. One of the residential lots the school purchased is 5,375 square feet, while the other lot is 8,422 square feet. The property could be used for a future campus expansion, says Ringling spokesperson Christine Meeker Lange.

“When we started on the master plan working with the city, we wanted to go deeper into the neighborhood,” Meeker Lange says. “The city encouraged us instead to buy along U.S. 41. Now we own all the way down to Old Bradenton Road, and — skipping the Burger King — we own all the property up to Patterson [Drive].”

Meeker Lange says the college has no immediate plans to redevelop the property.