Dilweg Cos. selling Sarasota City Center office building

The Dilweg Cos. is offering its Sarasota City Center office project for sale, months after completing a roughly $5 million renovation at the 13-story building.

The Durham, N.C.-based investment firm, through commercial real estate brokerage JLL’s Miami office absorbed in July as part of its acquisition of rival Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P., is seeking about $50 million for the property at 1819 Main St. in downtown Sarasota.

JLL describes the 245,293-square-foot building as “institutionally maintained.” Dilweg bought the 30-year-old building in April 2017 for $36.5 million, according to property records.

It was acquired as a portion of a portfolio of a half-dozen office projects in Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch and Tampa. Since its acquisition, Dilweg has invested heavily in improving the building’s lobby, common areas, fitness center, bathroom and courtyard.

“Rarely do offerings of this scale and stature become available for purchase in Sarasota,” JLL writes in an online description of the asset on its website.

Dilweg officials in Sarasota could not be reached for comment on the potential sale.

The building is currently 83% leased to Merrill Lynch, UBS, Boar’s Head Provisions Co. and others. Sarasota-based Ian Black Real Estate has been handling leasing of the property since summer.

JLL is hoping to sell the property by the end of this year, though any disposition may push into 2020.

Sarasota City Center would become the latest in a handful of major Sarasota transactions over the past year, a list that also includes the sales of the Downtown Sarasota Collection retail shops; the Whole Foods Market-anchored Shoppes at Sarasota Row; the four-building Gateway Professional Center; and the 180-unit DeSota Apartments.