Gecko's Hospitality Group buys Bee Ridge gas station

BUYER: Gecko's Hospitality Group LLC (principals: Michael Quillen and Michael Gowan), Sarasota

SELLER: Edmonia Davies, individually and as trustee of the Edmonia O. Davies Trust

PROPERTY: 2407 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota

PRICE: $500,000

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Gecko's Grill & Pub's parent company, Gecko's Hospitality Group LLC, purchased a former gas station for $500,000.

The price equated to $21 per square foot for the land.

The site, located at the northeast corner of Bee Ridge Road and Shade Avenue, contains a 1,638-square-foot gas station building.

Company president Mike Quillen says the restaurant company has been working for the past eight months on a new business venture it plans to locate on the property.

“We hope to open there in the next three-and-a-half to four months,” he says.

Mike Gowan and Quillen started Gecko's in 1992. Today, it has five Gecko's locations: two in Manatee County and three in Sarasota County. The chain employs more than 300 people.

John Harshman of Harshman & Company Inc. represented the seller and Nick DeVito of Ian Black Real Estate represented the buyer.