Louisiana culinary company buys former Coke distribution building

BUYER: Alack Properties LLC (principals: Louis and Ruth Alack), Hammond, La.

SELLER: Bank of the West

PROPERTY: 1126 N. Lime Ave., Sarasota

PRICE: $1.15 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.05 million, January 2008

LAW FIRM ON DEED: The Rosenthal Law Firm PA, Orlando

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Louis and Ruth Alack, the owners of Alack Refrigeration and Alack Culinary Equipment & Supplies Superstore, purchased the 38,858-square-foot, former Coca-Cola Bottling Co. distribution building for $1.15 million. The price equated to $30 per square foot.

Coca-Cola Bottling sold the building to Contemporary Cabinets Inc. in 2008 after it purchased and relocated to the former Gold Coast Eagle Distributing facility at 2150 47th St., Sarasota. In July 2011, Contemporary Cabinets lost the property to its lender Bank of the West in a foreclosure.

The 53-year-old building was vacant at the time of the sale.

It features a fenced in yard.

The Louisiana-based Alack Culinary Equipment & Supplies Superstore already operates a Sarasota store at 5330 Pinkney Ave., building C. The firm has additional offices in Lammond and Harahan, La. and Cincinnati and Youngstown, Ohio.

Pat Goetz of Bishop Beale Realty LLC in Orlando, and Jeff Button of Richardson Kleiber Walter Inc. represented the seller and William Rex of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT represented the buyer.

“It was an older building with some deferred maintenance, but not as much as you would expect,” Button says. “It's very rare to find land of that size this close to downtown. It had just over four acres.”

The purchase entity Alack Properties LLC mortgaged the property to First Guaranty Bank for $1.22 million.