Real estate agent, investor buy Fountains Shopping Plaza for $2.1 million

BUYER: RH Holdings Bradenton LLC, Belle Mead, N.J.
SELLER: BRE-1 Inc.
PROPERTY: 4808, 4812, 4816, 4818, 4820, 4822, 4824, 4828, 3824 and 4836 W. 14th St., Bradenton
PRICE: $2.1 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $5.42 million, March 2005
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Steve Horn of Ian Black Real Estate and an undisclosed Belle Mead, N.J., investor purchased the 75,000-square-foot Fountains Shopping Plaza for $2.1 million.

The price equated to $28 per square foot. That figure is lower than the two-year average price per square foot for retail space ($146) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Located behind the separately owned Hooters and Pizza Hut outparcels, the L-shaped, 8-acre center was just 35% occupied at the time of the sale. Its vacancies include the 29,000-square-foot anchor and a 10,000-square-foot restaurant space. It currently houses a billiard parlor, medical transcription business, hookah lounge and the saltwater aquarium reef, fish and coral store Paradise Reef.

The two investors purchased the center with plans to renovate it.

“When we looked at the deal, we saw a great amount of potential,” Horn says. “We saw a building and shopping center that was tired. There's a lot of deferred maintenance, and we plan to tackle that first. But it has really good bones. At the price we paid for the center, we think we can provide a really good opportunity [for prospective tenants]. We plan to be ultra competitive.”

Kevin Robbins of Harry E. Robbins Associates Inc. represented the seller.

The same investors currently own the four-unit retail building at 500 Central Ave., Sarasota and a 30,000-square-foot building in Venice.