Sarasota's Rakay Family Investments buys new Clearwater Beach Walgreens

BUYER: Brusue II LLC, St. Clair 152 LLC and Ashtabula II LLC, Sarasota
SELLER: PV-JK Clearwater Beach LLC
PROPERTY: 401 Poinsettia Ave., Clearwater Beach
PRICE: $12.2 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.5 million, April 2012
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Forlizzo Law Group PA, Safety Harbor

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Three affiliates of Rakay Family Investments purchased a 25,000-square-foot drug store building for $12.2 million.

The price equated to $488 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for retail space ($138) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Developer Paradise Group LLC of Safety Harbor recently built the new two-story building for a Walgreens at the corner of Poinsettia Avenue and Causeway Boulevard. The 24-hour drugstore opened in November.

Bruce Rakay, part of the buyer and president of the management company SEV Management Inc., says the property was purchased in a 1031 tax-differed exchange using the proceeds of nine drugstores the family sold in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“I've been in the drugstore development business for almost 20 years,” he says. “This is one of the best locations I've ever seen. It's a very unique store. The volume of sales there is just tremendous. It's way ahead of where Walgreens thought it was going to be. It is at the first stop after you get off the bridge from Clearwater to Clearwater Beach. We paid a top price for it, but we feel it's going to be a good store for us for a very long time. “

The purchase price equated to a payoff ratio based on income (capitalization rate) of 5.5%. Drug retail chain Walgreen Co. has roughly 19.5 years remaining on its original lease.