Investors, Australian trust buy Whitfield Industrial building

BUYER: Whitfield IND LLC (managing member: Aran Dunlop), Fort Myers
SELLER: Patricia Luber, individually and as trustee of the land agreement to as the 689.071 Trust #5
PROPERTY: 2245 Whitfield Industrial Way, Sarasota
PRICE: $950,000
PREVIOUS PRICE: $68,250, January 1980
LAW FIRM ON DEED: MLS Title LLC, Fort Myers

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
An investment group, led by Aran Dunlop, owner of Fort Myers-based Dunlop Capital LLC, purchased the 30,000-square-foot Luber Building for $950,000.

The price equated to $32 per square foot. That figure is lower than the two-year average price per square foot for industrial space ($104) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Located on a 1.96-acre parcel in Whitfield Industrial Park, the building features four 7,500-square-foot units. Contemporary Cabinets of the Gulf Coast Inc. is the sole tenant in the building, leaving the remaining three units vacant.

The building includes a sprinkler system, office space, restrooms and a loading dock on the east end of the building.

According to Dunlop, the investment group is a mixture of local investors and an Australian investment trust. He says the buyers have been focusing their investments on multitenant flex space because it has been strengthening and purchase prices are still reasonable.

“I liked the business park it was in,” Dunlop says. “It was in need of some work. We will be restriping the parking lot and one of the doors needs fixing. From 1,000 square feet up to 5,000 square feet and now up to 7,500 square feet is really the sweet spot in the market.”

The purchase marks the Australian firm's first purchase in Sarasota, he says. It owns several other properties in Hillsborough, Lee and Pinellas counties and three properties in the greater Orlando area. Dunlop says the firm is still looking for additional flex space in the Sarasota and Manatee areas.

Stu Silver of Silver & Silver & Silvers Inc. has been retained to market the vacant space.

The purchase entity, Whitfield IND LLC, mortgaged the property to the seller, Patricia Luber, individually and as trustee of the land agreement to as the 689.071 Trust #5, for $800,000.