Stock buys Sarasota acreage for $10 million

Stock Development has had plans to construct an apartment complex on land east of Interstate 75 in Sarasota for months. Now, though, the Naples-based company’s development envelope may have expanded significantly.

That’s because a Stock affiliate has purchased a 41-acre tract there once planned for a mix of uses, including apartments, 180,000 square feet of office and retail space, a 150-room hotel and open space.

A Stock affiliate late last month bought Fruitville Commons for $10 million from the Walters Family Trust, which last fall unveiled the ambitious plans for the property.

Previously, Stock had signed on to develop 300 multifamily units as part of Walters’ project.

Stock officials did not return telephone calls for comment on the acquisition or its plans for the vacant land going forward.

Loyd Robbins of Harry E. Robbins Associates Inc. represented the Walters family in the transaction.

“A tremendous amount of thought, caring and research went into the design of Fruitville Commons,” Robbins says in a statement regarding Hoyt Architects’ designs for the property, which was to be modeled after an urban scheme and anchored by a one-acre park in its center.

Walters’ proposal for a mixed-use development gelled after Bass Pro Shop backed out of a plan to build a Sarasota store on the site.

The property is also significant because it is part of a 420-acre tract known as the “Fruitville Initiative,” land that is slated to contain several developments loosely integrated. Sarasota County designated the site for a mix of uses in 2009.