Broker goes outside region for $10M sale

Many commercial real estate brokers live and die by the “know thy market” ethos — that the best way to a long career in the business is to become a local expert.

Gail Bowden, a senior agent with the Sarasota office of Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group, however, went a bit out of her market to broker a major recent sale. Bowden's client, in fact, closed on a $10 million transaction of an 84,700-square-foot building in Kissimmee, south of Orlando. The client sought to complete a 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange, which allows investors to purchase multiple properties and defer capital gains taxes in certain circumstances.

The client chose the Kissimmee building, City Centre, when Bowden couldn't find a building to meet his needs locally. She says good investment properties in the Sarasota-Bradenton region around $10 million are hard to find. “I would have loved to have done this here,” Bowden tells Coffee Talk. “But most people are looking for an investment that's a good deal. They are not as much concerned about what area.”

Bowden, the Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group 2011 Advisor of the Year, worked with her colleague Bruce Dilges on the transaction. She found the property through researching the internal Sperry Van Ness network.

The sale, further, caps a busy few weeks for Bowden. A second deal in Kissimmee, for $6.9 million, is under contract, and she recently closed on two deals in Sarasota County that total nearly $6 million.