News & Notes

304-acre east Manatee County ranch listed for $8M, marketed to developers

In the week's top commercial real estate news, a nearly 50-year-old Brandon bowling alley sold, a project gets nearly $10 million loan in Fort Myers, and Manatee is nearly ready to tackle impact fees.


  • By Louis Llovio
  • | 5:00 a.m. February 4, 2024
  • | 2 Free Articles Remaining!
A 304-acre ranch in Myakka City is for sale.
A 304-acre ranch in Myakka City is for sale.
Image courtesy of SVN Commercial Advisory Group
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Naples/Fort Myers

In the money: The Housing Authority of the city of Fort Myers recently received a $9.4 million loan from the state it will use to help build a 92-unit affordable multifamily community on Cleveland Street. The money came from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. in the form of a State Apartment Initiative Loan. The SAIL program, as it’s called, provides low-interest loans to bridge the cost between a development’s financing and its real cost. The complex is part of the Greater Dunbar Initiative, a $97.8 million revitalization of the Southward Village public housing community. According to the housing authority, the plan is to increase resources, amenities and economic opportunities in the community. Along with the apartment complex, there will be 375 new mixed-income apartments with 159 reserved for current residents.

An 8.8-acre Naples mobile home park has sold.
Image courtesy of LSI Cos.

New park owner: A Naples mobile home park has sold. The 8.8-acre property on Henderson Creek Drive named Oasis Mobile Home Park and the Kenyon Mobile Home Park was bought by a group of investors for $3.25 million. The previous owners were Ben S. Moore Jr. and BMS & Sons. LSI Cos. represented the sellers and announced the sale. According to the Fort Myers commercial real estate firm, it will continue to operate as mobile home park for the time being. The firm also recently brokered the sale of a 2.83-acre commercial property in Port Charlotte. That property, at 4549 Tamiami Trail, was bought for $1.35 million by Ralph and Joanne Hoehne from DAH Enterprises Inc. 


Tampa/St. Petersburg

Wishy washy: A Canadian investor has bought the America’s Car Wash in Ruskin. The property is at 728 Cypress Village Blvd. and the new owner paid $3.1 million. That’s about $825,000 less than the $3.92 million the previous owner, P&A Investment Florida, paid in 2022. The new owner bought the property through an LLC named Ruskin Investment. The state’s Division of Corporation’s database shows the company is based in Mississauga, Ontario, a city just southwest of Toronto. The owners, Zia and Mayam Khan, own at least one other LLC in Florida, Sebring Investment. Both were incorporated on Oct. 17 and list Zia Khan as the registered agent at an Orlando home belonging to someone else. As for the car wash, a LoopNet profile of the property says it sits on a 0.85-acre plot and is 6,124 square feet. Recent improvements include a new chain for the track in the tunnel, a resealed parking lot, a new canopy and a new top brush.

Pin Chasers has bought a family-owned bowling alley in Brandon.
Image via Pin Chasers / Facebook

Bowling for dollars: Oakfield Lanes, a Brandon bowling alley that opened in the 1980s, has sold. In a letter posted on its website, owners Tammy and Randy Jacobs announced that the new owners, Pin Chasers, took over Jan. 1. The Jacobs did not disclose specifics, writing that there were other offers but Pin Chaser’s reputation in the bowling community “was without question the best fit.” Tammy Jacobs took over the bowling alley — incorporated in 1982, according to the Better Business Bureau — from her parents. The letter says the family had been in the bowling business for 65 years. This is Pin Chasers fourth bowling alley in the area. There are two in Tampa and one in Zephyrhills. Pin Chasers paid $2.92 million for the land, according to county property records. 


Sarasota/Manatee

Ranch hands: Another big piece of farmland in Manatee County is up for sale. The 304-acre Montgomery Ranch on State Road 70 E. in Myakka City has hit the market — with a listing price of $.7.91 million. It joins the nearby 350-acre Dakin Dairy Farm, which was put up for sale late last year. While Daikin’s owners have said the hope is to keep the property operating as a farm, the listing for Montgomery make no bones about its intentions. In a flyer, SVN Commercial Advisory Group calls the property “an ideal opportunity to take advantage of the 5-acre zoning density currently permitted to build luxury ranchette style homes, ‘cracker cabins’ or a smaller lot, luxury homes along with a possible clubhouse.” The property includes 2,000 feet of frontage along S.R. 70 and more than 300 feet of frontage along Singletary Road.

Fee matters: Manatee County commissioners could take up the matter of increasing impact fees collected on projects as early as this month. A county spokesman says the goal is for the development services department and the county attorney to present their findings at a Feb. 22 meeting. The item isn’t on the agenda as of yet, though, meaning the date can change. In November, commissioners asked county staff to present a plan on how an increase would be implemented and what the implications would be. They would then vote on how to move forward. Commissioners are not actually raising impact fees. What they want is to collect 100% of impact fees recommend in a 2015 impact fee study, rather than the 90% that has been collected for the past nine years. The fees are earmarked for projects that place a burden on infrastructure and address demand for roads, law enforcement and parks that come with population growth. 


If you have news, notes or tips you want to pass along, contact [email protected]. Or you can text or call 727-371-6944.

 

author

Louis Llovio

Louis Llovio is the deputy managing editor at the Business Observer. Before going to work at the Observer, the longtime business writer worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Maryland Daily Record and for the Baltimore Sun Media Group. He lives in Tampa.

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