Brown, Walia exchange properties on Siesta Key Village, Main Street

BUYER: Ocean Blvd LLC (principal: Christopher Brown), Osprey
SELLER: Harry Walia
PROPERTY: 1410 Main St., Sarasota
PRICE: $1.35 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $755,000, November 1992

BUYER: SRQ Ocean Blvd LLC (principal: Harry Walia), Venice
SELLER: Ocean Blvd LLC
PROPERTY: 5214 Ocean Blvd., Sarasota
PRICE: $1.35 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.35 million, December 2012
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Berlin-Patten PLLC, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Local business owner Chris Brown has traded properties with Harry Walia. Brown sold his 7,826 square feet of retail space in Siesta Key Village to Walia for $1.35 million and Walia traded him a 22,326-square-foot building on Main Street for the same amount.

The Siesta Key Village property houses Used Book Heaven, Mount N Repair and Bonjour French Cafe, and three residential units on the second floor. The property also includes 45 parking spaces in the back of the building.

Brown told the Sarasota Observer he doesn't have any particular vision for the building at this point in time.

“Like anywhere else, you want to try to find some quality tenants,” Brown says. “Right now, there's no immediate plan except to locate some quality tenants for Main Street.”

Brown is also the owner of the building at 1400 Main St., another property formerly owned by Walia. Brown also has proposed developing a second-story outdoor gallery deck on the triangular building at Five Points.

“We want to see what the response is,” Brown says. “If they don't want it, I understand, and we'll go in a different direction. If they do want it, great.”

— Additional reporting by David Conway, correspondent