Joe Redner Sr.-led company buys Sears Parts & Repair Center building

BUYER: Free Course Inc. (officer: Joe Redner), Tampa
SELLER: Sears Roebuck and Co.
PROPERTY: 4005 Spruce St., Tampa
PRICE: $1.13 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $78,000, January 1973
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Freeborn & Peters LLP, Chicago

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
A company owned by businessman and strip club owner Joe Redner Sr. purchased the 23,914-square-foot former Sears Parts & Repair Center building for $1.13 million.

The price equated to $47 per square foot. That figure is less than the two-year average price per square foot for industrial space ($104) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The 39-year-old pre-fabricated metal building occupies 3.24 acres of land west of North Grady Avenue. It features 4,000 square feet of showroom space, 14-foot ceilings, three grade-level doors and a sprinkler system.

Redner says the building will likely be used to handle the storage and backroom needs for many of his and his son's businesses, including Cigar City Brewing. The property also offers additional parking to the Redners' nearby businesses.

“I started negotiating with Sears six years ago, around '08 or '09, but the land has some environmental problems,” he says. “Sears wanted to get that taken care of before it would sell, but never got the state to go along with [the clean up.] Recently, Sears needed to get rid of 200 pieces of property, so we came to an agreement. I think it's worth a lot more than what I paid for it, so it was a good buy.”

Joseph Seidle of The Krauss Organization handled the transaction.