Devonshire Park land sells for $8 million less

BUYER: Woodmere Investment Management LLC (principal: Henry Rodriguez), Osprey

SELLER: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver for First Priority Bank

PROPERTY: lots 1-26, Devonshire Park between Alderman and Oak streets, Sarasota

PRICE: $995,000

PREVIOUS PRICE: $9.01 million, February 2006

LAW FIRM ON DEED: First American Title Co., Houston

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An affiliate of Sarasota-based Woodmere Capital Group purchased the vacant Devonshire Park property in downtown Sarasota along with its development approvals for $995,000.

The price equated to $38,269 per approved lot and $345,486 per acre.

A group led by Sarasota businessman Marvin Kaplan had pursued developing a community of 26 single-family homes prior to the residential slowdown. The project was envisioned as one of the first home developments in Sarasota's downtown in more than a decade. However, in July, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., acting as a receiver for First Priority Bank, foreclosed on the property.

The buyer will likely look to sell off the land, according to Henry Rodriguez, Woodmere Capital Group's CEO and chairman.

“We bought it with a lot of other properties,” Rodriguez says. “We typically don't like to hold onto land. Our business model is to focus on income-producing properties.”

Rodriguez says the main reason to avoid land is that development costs are still higher than acquisition costs for existing developed properties.