Benderson Development makes second St. Armands acquisition

For the second time in the past four months, an affiliate of Manatee County-based Benderson Development Co. has acquired a prominent retail and office property in the famed St. Armands Circle shopping district of Sarasota.

400 SAC LLC, an entity operated by Benderson General Counsel David Baldauf, Benderson executive Shaun Benderson and Stephen Scalione, the company’s Executive Director of Finance and Operations, acquired the 400-420 St. Armands Circle property for $6.95 million, Sarasota County property records indicate.

The 13,228-square-foot property houses the Crab & Fin seafood restaurant, Tilden Ross Jewelers and the Better Homes & Gardens/Atchley Properties real estate brokerage.

The Benderson entity bought the two-story property, which was completed in 1972, from an affiliate of Sarasota-based Diventi Inc. Diventi, in turn, had purchased the property in March 2012 for $4.85 million, records show.

In June, Benderson affiliates purchased a pair of properties on the Circle for a combined $21.43 million. Those buildings, at 431 St. Armands Circle and 443 John Ringling Blvd., house the café L’ Europe restaurant, a Starbucks coffee house, Soma Intimates and Chico’s FAS.

At the time, Benderson Executive Director of Leasing Mark Chait told the Business Observer that the St. Armands’ properties were a “one-of-a-kind gem” in a “unique and irreplaceable location.”

He added that the company was interested in acquiring more in the famed shopping district, which was created in the 1920s by circus magnate John Ringling.

Neither Chait nor other Benderson executives could be reached for comment on the more recent acquisition.

Benderson is best known for ground-up retail developments nationwide and for revamping troubled shopping centers regionally, such as the Landings Shopping Center, a derelict Dillard’s department store in Westfield Corp.’s Southgate Mall property and at Pelican Plaza, all in Sarasota County.

In all, Benderson controls more than 500 retail properties, making it one of the largest privately held commercial real estate owners in the U.S. based on assets under management.