Englewood Bank & Trust buys Boca Grande branch

BUYER: Englewood Bank & Trust (principals: J.W. Crews Jr., W.M. Crews, Bradley Wilson, Craig DeYoung, Lane Diedrick, Michael Aloian and Nadine Smith), Englewood

SELLER: 301 Park LLC

PROPERTY: 301 Park Ave., Boca Grande

PRICE: $1.03 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $750,000, March 2004

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Attorney at Law Wanda Pistella PA, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Englewood Bank & Trust purchased a 3,390-square-foot, two-story commercial building for $1.03 million.

The price equated to $305 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for office space ($120) in Southwest Florida, according to the CoStar Group.

The bank has been using much of the 2,000-square-foot floor of the building as a branch location for the past 15 years. It shares the ground level with retailer Salt and Babe's Plumbing Inc. The second floor is used as a residential loft.

“We determined long ago that we would be there for the long term,” says Lane Diedrick, bank president. “We got to the point where the market price made sense.... We also wanted to get past the issues of the downturn in the economy.”

Diedrick says Boca Grande has been a great market for the bank and that it has no immediate plans for changes to the building. The branch houses four to five bank employees.

Rebecca Patterson of The Seale Family Inc. Realtors represented the seller.