SugarOak Holdings buys Wildewood Professional Center

BUYER: SugarOak Wildewood LLC (manager: Phillip Nickels), Herndon, Va.
SELLER: Redus Florida Commercial LLC
PROPERTY: 3643, 3651, 3653, 3659 and 3701 Cortez Road W., Bradenton
PRICE: $3.35 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $4.09 million, October 2004
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Smith Hulsey Busey PA, Jacksonville

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Herndon, Va.-based SugarOak Holdings Inc. purchased the 11 buildings comprising Wildewood Professional Center for $3.35 million.

The price equated to about $45 per square foot. That figure is lower than the two-year average price per square foot for office space ($118) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The 9.2-acre parcel houses a total of about 75,000 square feet of office space. The buildings were slightly less than 50% occupied at the time of the sale.

The seller, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank NA, took ownership of the property in August 2011 in lieu of foreclosure from Vector Corporate Park Ltd. LLP.

“We like Bradenton and feel like this is a good solid property that has vacancies for no other reason than it didn't have somebody there to take care of it,” says Dan Baker, founder, chairman and CEO of SugarOak Holdings. “It needs some physical improvement, but it doesn't need a total renovation. It's fairly simple. We plan to resurface the parking lot, do some tree trimming and painting.”
Baker says a bigger key to improving the property will be marketing and promoting it.

SugarOak Holdings owns 35 properties in 12 states. Within Florida, it has three properties in the Orlando area and one in the Panhandle.

Carol Warren of Colliers International Tampa Bay Florida represented the seller.

The purchase entity, SugarOak Wildewood LLC, mortgaged the property to Virginia Heritage Bank for $1.68 million.