Education foundation pays $6M for prime downtown Sarasota property

The Education Foundation of Sarasota County has bought a piece of property on Washington Boulevard in downtown Sarasota, that, until last year, housed a prominent local real estate firm for nearly three decades.

According to county records, the foundation paid $6 million for the 0.75-acre parcel at 100 S. Washington Blvd. The sale was announced in a news release from Michael Saunders & Co., which had leased the property for 27 years until it consolidated its offices in May.

It did not disclose the foundation in the release but said the “local buyer is formulating plans to renovate the building and is not ready to disclose details.”

In an emailed statement, Education Foundation President and CEO Jennifer Vigne says the building will help the organization “realize its strategic goals set in motion several year ago.”

“We know that education is the key to a thriving community,” she says in the statement. “Purchasing the property is an early step in what will be a coordinated, multistage philanthropic effort to provide comprehensive, individualized support to each and every student and to champion the amazing teachers who do so much for our community.”

The Education Foundation of Sarasota County is a nonprofit that focuses on “supporting and enhancing” public education in the district. On its website, the foundation says it serves about 44,000 students and more than 5,000 teachers and support staff in 59 county schools.

According to its 2022 Form 990 posted on the nonprofit research company Candid GuideStar’s website, the foundation has $5.08 million in total assets. That same figure appears on its Statement of Financial Position dated June 30, 2022.

Michael Saunders & Co. first moved into a portion of the 100 S. Washington Blvd. building in 1996 and expanded its operations to the entire 9,768-square-foot space in 2003.

In May, the residential and commercial real estate brokerage consolidated three offices and moved some of its operations into the Wells Fargo building on Main Street and Orange Avenue in downtown Sarasota. With the move, about 75 of the firm’s employees are working out of two floors in the 13-story building.

Before the move Michael Saunders’ agent services teams, executives, title division, commercial advisors and developer services team worked out of the Washington Boulevard building and two others — 1801 Main St. and 40 N. Osprey St.

The firm represented the seller, Hyatt and Cici Brown Revocable Trust of Daytona Beach. The sale closed Dec. 21.