Insula moving offices to Sarasota's Plaza at Five Points building

Apartment owner Insula Cos. plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to one of Sarasota’s top Class A office buildings early next year.

The company will move to the top floor of the Plaza at Five Points building, into space owned by an entity controlled by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, in February.

The Buchanan Enterprises affiliate had attempted to sell the 33,356-square-foot floor beginning in 2016 for $11.5 million, after tenant Direct Energy relocated staff to Houston from the space as part of a corporate consolidation.

Buchanan’s group had paid $9.8 million for the floor in December 2005, according to Sarasota County property records.

Insula intends to occupy just under 6,000 square feet on the ninth floor of the 50 Central Ave. building, joining MoneyShow — the floor’s other tenant. Roughly 15 of the company’s employees will relocate to the new quarters.

“I think we’ll be pretty happy there,” says Fred Cochran, an Insula principal and founder. “It’s one of the newer, if not the newest, office space in Sarasota’s central business district, and it has some of the nice fixtures and finishes. Besides that, the location is perhaps the best in the city. It was everything we were looking for.”

Under terms of its lease, Insula could occupy the building until 2035.

Insula, which has acquired multifamily communities valued in excess of $450 million since its creation in 2009 and now owns about 3,000 units, is relocating from the BMO Harris Plaza, an 11-story building at 240 S. Pineapple Ave. in Sarasota’s downtown.

“This move will mark the first time in a decade that we’ll get to decide truly where we want to be and what our build-out looks like,” Cochran says.