Hotel company moves to Lakewood Ranch

LAKEWOOD RANCH — BAPOP Holdings Inc., an investment group led by Charter One Hotels & Resorts Inc. Chairman and CEO John Balliett, purchased a 9,091-square-foot office building in Lakewood Ranch Corporate Park for $1.3 million.

The price equated to $143 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for office space ($115) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The 9-year-old building, located at 6731 Professional Parkway W., Sarasota, will serve as the new headquarters for Charter One Hotels & Resorts. The decision to move comes shortly after BAPOP Holdings sold the company's current Sarasota headquarters at 2032 Hillview St., in May for $700,000. The hotel company will share space in the Lakewood Ranch building with existing tenants Wilson Structural Consultants, Crawford Williams Engineering and First Western Title Co.

“This will give us room to grow in the future,” says Balliett. “We have a hotel property in Lakewood Ranch now, so this will put us closer to that. Our people are on the road quite bit and this is much more convenient for them now. This was a good opportunity for us to get into a growing market.”

Balliett says the building should require few changes to house Charter One Hotels & Resorts.

The seller, 6731 Professional Parkway West LLC, a company led by Sarasota architect Don Lawson and his wife, Lisa Lawson, has owned the property since 2003.

The sale was done as a 1031 tax-deferred exchange.

Diane Lawson of Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group represented the seller and Barry Seidel of American Property Group represented the buyer.

BAPOP Holdings mortgaged the property to Branch Bank and Trust Co. for $700,000.