Esplanade Shoppes sell for $9.53 million

BUYER: GM Esplanade LLC and C. Stewart Esplanade LLC (principals for both: John Luetkemeyer, J. Mark Schapiro and Michele Williams), Baltimore, Md.

SELLER: A&N of Marco Inc.

PROPERTY: 630 Collier Blvd. N., Marco Island

PRICE: $9.53 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $4.2 million, April 1997 and $550,000, February 1998

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Grant Fridkin Pearson Athan & Crown PA, Naples

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Affiliates of Baltimore-based Continental Realty Corp. purchased the nearly 50,000-square-foot The Esplanade Shoppes for $9.53 million.

Overlooking Smokehouse Bay, the retail/office center is located below several levels of condominiums, 72 in total, and next to a 77-slip marina.

The retail center was roughly 85% occupied at the time of the sale, according to Fred Pezeshkan one of The Esplanade Shoppes' former owners.

The property features CJ's on the Bay, Mango's Dockside Bistro, Tara Steak and Lobster House, Starbucks, Cold Stone Creamery, Rick's Island Salon and Day Spa and Chloe's Boutique. It also includes, three art galleries, an M&I Bank branch and office space for Lutgert Insurance, Premier Properties and others.

Calls to Continental Realty for comment were not returned prior to deadline.

The purchase entities GM Esplanade LLC and C. Stewart Esplanade LLC mortgaged the property to John Hancock Life Insurance Co. for $6 million.

Earlier this year, CR South, an affiliate of Continental Realty, purchased The Shops at Verandah, a 73,000-square-foot neighborhood shopping center in Fort Myers, for $9.5 million, or $131 per square foot.