Two U.S. 41 buildings sold for Stan Thompson Auto Sales

BUYER: SMT Auto LLC (principal: Stanley Thompson), Bradenton

SELLER: Alco Properties of Manatee Inc.

PROPERTY: 5234 and 5400 W. 14th St. and additional land on 14th Street West, Bradenton

PRICE: $1.8 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $525,000, June 2001

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Greene Hamrick Perrey Quinlan & Schermer, Bradenton

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Bradenton business owner Stan Thompson purchased the second half of the former Pirate's Cove Family Fun Center on U.S. 41 for $1.8 million.

The price equated to $211,765 per acre.

Thompson's 8.5-acre portion of the property features a 7,500-square-foot building, which formerly housed The Attic Mini Storage, and a 1,500-square-foot building. Both are currently vacant. Thompson plans to use the site for a buy-here/pay-here used car dealership called Stan Thompson Auto Sales.

“We saw the opportunity there to grow the business, and the location fit all of our requirements,” he says. “We were looking to enlarge our market.”

The dealership will also share space on the property with Thompson's AAA Auto Rentals.

The new owner plans to renovate the two buildings and improve the aesthetics of the site. He has budgeted nearly $500,000 for improvements, and hopes to have the site open by mid-January.

Douglas Whitney of Lakewood Ranch's WBRC Architects Inc. is designing the improvements and Jeff Vogel of Vogel Construction Inc. will be the general contractor.

Stan Rutstein of Re/Max Alliance Group handled the transaction.

The purchase entity, SMT Auto LLC, mortgaged the property to Gateway Bank of Southwest Florida for two loans totaling $2.01 million.

In early 2010, RaceTrac Petroleum purchased the southern 1.93 acres of the former Pirate Cove amusement park to build a gas station.