Kauffman company buys building for P.F. Chang's development

BUYER: Bayou Associates Limited (principal: Mark Kauffman), Sarasota

SELLER: Becca Properties LLC

PROPERTY: 766 S. Osprey Ave., Sarasota

PRICE: $1.5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.25 million, October 2009

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Band Weintraub PL, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Sarasota real estate investor/developer Mark Kauffman purchased a 4,164-square-foot office building on Osprey Avenue for $1.5 million.

The price equated to $360 per square foot.

For more than two years, the property has been proposed for the development of a P.F. Chang's China Bistro, the first in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

“We moved the tenants out of the building and will start removing the structure this week,” Kauffman says. “We'll start the demolition in a couple weeks. We still have a lot of site work to do. It will probably be four months or so before they start their construction.”

Based on its current schedule, the roughly 6,900-square-foot new stand-alone restaurant building will open in mid-2013. P.F. Chang's in-house architectural team designed the new restaurant.

P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc. operates two restaurant chains: the full-service P.F. Chang's China Bistro and the quick-casual Pei Wei Asian Diner. Community interest has been especially high for the restaurant, principally because of the lack of a nearby restaurant. The company operates a Pei Wei on University Parkway just west of Interstate 75. However, the closest full-service P.F. Chang's China Bistro restaurants are located in Fort Myers and Tampa.

Kauffman's company received a $4.1 million construction mortgage for the Osprey Avenue property and two additional parcels from Stearns Bank National Association.