Grocery chain buys $2.9M site, plans expansion

PALMETTO — Sarasota-based Detwiler's Farm Market purchased a retail property in Palmetto for just over $2.9 million.

According to a press release, MSC Commercial, a division of Sarasota-based real estate firm Michael Saunders & Co. closed the sale. Agents Steve Larkin and Susan Goldstein represented Detwiler's.

The site is eight acres and has more than 50,000 square feet of commercial space. The store will be Detwiler's fourth store on the Gulf Coast and will mark the company's entry into Manatee County and Palmetto. The Palmetto store will be its largest. It will employ more than 100 people.

“With the property vacant for more than 10 years, this is an excellent example of Michael Saunders & Company's strength in helping our buyers find and re-position existing opportunities,” says Goldstein in a statement.

According to commercial real estate research firm Xcelignet, the sale is the second largest retail property sale in Manatee County and the largest single-occupant retail property purchased this year, the press release says.

Detwiler's began as a roadside stand in 2002. It is owned and operated by Henry and Natalie Detwiler and their nine children.