Commercial Real Estate

Continental buys land for Sarasota rentals
Continuing a multifamily residential boom, a Wisconsin-based developer purchased 51 acres of land in Sarasota County to build 360 apartments.

Continental 335 Fund LLC, an affiliate of Continental Properties Co. Inc., bought the land at Cattlemen and Procter roads for $8.5 million. Sarasota attorney John Meshad sold the land, records show.

Continental intends to begin its Springs at Bee Ridge within the month and move residents into the $50 million project by next summer, says company marketing manager Jean Jones.

“We feel very confident that we'll be successful with this project, based on job creation and household formation in that area,” Jones says.

The gated two-story, garden-style apartments, which will rent for $820 to $1,600 per month, will feature private entrances and have amenities that include a clubhouse, swimming pool, fitness center, dog park and attached garages. Apartments will range in size from studios to three bedrooms, Jones says.

Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Property Southwest Florida CEO Gary Tasman and agent Shawn Stoneburger negotiated the transaction.

Throughout the Gulf Coast, more than 10,000 new apartments have been built in the past two years, and rents have increased by double digits in many areas. Sarasota, in particular, has some of the highest asking rents for residential properties in the nation.

“Sarasota County is a very underserved rental market,” Tasman says. “And there's no other land this size available for new apartments. There's room for more product because of the population growth.”

Springs at Bee Ridge will be Continental's first development in the county.

Tampa construction soaring
Future commercial real estate construction contracts in the Tampa area in June surged 55%, according to Dodge Data and Analytics.

The firm reports contracts in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area totaled $145.5 million, up from $93.7 million in the same period in 2014.

For the year, commercial contracts in the same area jumped 67%, to $904 million, Dodge notes.