Benderson buys St. Armands Circle boutique property for $1.7M

Naples/Fort Myers/Charlotte 

In the loop: An 18-acre plot in Punta Gorda has sold and is primed for retail development. The land is off of Jones Loop Road and the last part of a 189-acre project that was previously known as Jones Loop Village but is now dubbed Punta Gorda Station. The buyer was Atlanta developer SREG Commercial Real Estate Development. It paid $6.1 million. LQ Commercial, which announced the deal and is in charge of the leasing, says in a statement that the project “has been piloted and positioned for sale by Terracap Management out of Naples” for the past 10 years. The parcel itself is across from a Walmart Supercenter, an Aldi grocery store and about two miles from the Punta Gorda Airport. LQ says there has already been interest from national brands looking to move into the area. SREG specializes in ground up or the redevelopment of retail properties in the Southeast U.S. Among its Florida projects are Port Charlotte Station in Port Charlotte and Heritage Station in Brandon. Michael Price, a managing director and principal at LQ Commercial Fort Myers, brokered the sale. 

Image courtesy of SRS Capital Markets

Dine and dash: Metro Diner, the restaurant chain that got its start in Jacksonville, is looking to expand in Southwest Florida. SRS Real Estate Partners sent out a marketing email last week saying Metro Diner was looking for spaces in the area and in Central Florida. Just how many locations and a geographic breakdown weren’t immediately available. But according to SRS, the chain is looking for spaces between 3,500 square feet and 4,500 square feet. The preference is that the property have a patio and that it be freestanding or an endcap. The growth, SRS says in the email, is part of “a new round of corporate expansion.” Metro Diner currently has more than 60 restaurants in 12 states. There are 25 in Florida including in Tampa, Venice, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Port Charlotte, Cape Coral, Brandon and Bradenton. A Lakeland restaurant is scheduled to open soon.

Tampa/St. Petersburg/Pasco/Polk

Courtesy image

That’s electric: South Korean appliance and consumer electronic manufacturer LG Electronics USA has leased 348,740 square feet of space in Lakeland. The space is at the Lakeland Commerce Center, a four-building industrial complex off Interstate 4 in Polk County. LG will use it as a regional distribution center. By bringing in LG, the recently completed industrial center is 51% leased. Other tenants include Lifting Gear Hire, which took 36,420 square feet in building 200. and an unnamed company that that took 75,740 square foot in building 100. Building 400, where LG is moving, is a cross-dock facility with a 36-foot clear height, 95 dock-high doors and 206 parking spaces. Stonemont Financial Group, an Atlanta-based private real estate investment firm, built the Lakeland Commerce Center and announced LG’s lease. 

How sweet it is: Monin Americas, a beverage flavoring company known for its syrups and concentrates, has leased new space in Pinellas Park. The 86,350-square-foot industrial building is at 9411 Belcher Road N. and will be used for additional capacity and distribution. According to a listing for the property from Vaughan Commercial Advisors, the building has 30 feet of clear height, eight dock-high overhead doors and 122 parking spaces. Terms of the lease were not disclosed, and the listing did not show a price. Monin is a 100-year-old French company with its U.S. headquarters in Clearwater. According to a recent profile in the Business Observer, it employees 355 people between its Florida plant and one in Nevada. The new space is expected to open early next year. Gary Godsey, Tom Porter and J.J. Jones of Stream Realty Partners represented Monin and the firm announced the deal. Bruce Vaughan, Vaughan Commercial’s president, represented the building owner, CMNY Transitions.

Play ball: The Tampa Bay Rays are moving — at least the people who work behind the scenes for the baseball team. The team, which is in the early stages of building a new St. Petersburg stadium and suffered catastrophic damage to its current home during Hurricane Milton, has leased temporary office space for its front office staff. The office is east of Tropicana Field at 800 2nd Ave S. The building was previously occupied by United Insurance Holdings Corp. The plan is for the move to be completed in mid-November. According to the Rays, the team’s office staff has been working remotely since Oct. 9 when winds from Milton shredded the roof at Tropicana Field, raising questions about where the team will play next season and the facility’s future. The Rays recently won approval to build a new ballpark as part of a larger downtown development project and plan to begin playing there in 2028. Tropicana Field would be demolished around that time. The city and the team are continuing to assess the extent of the damage and, at some point, there is likely to be a conversation about the wisdom of pouring millions into a building that already has a date with a wrecking ball.

Sarasota/Manatee

Buy, buy boutique: Benderson Development has picked up the St. Armands Circle property previously occupied by Apricot Lane. According to Sarasota County property records, the east Manatee County-based developer bought the building at 464 John Ringling Blvd. for $1.7 million. The sale was announced by SVN Commercial Advisory Group, which represented the seller, Spicey Estate. The company, which owned the building and the business, put both up for sale earlier this year, saying in a listing that the reason for the sale was retirement. But only the building has been sold and Apricot Lane announced online in September it was closing. A Benderson spokesperson says in an email that there are no immediate plans for the space and that it’s currently for lease. “We’re actively looking for a prospective user that will complement the retail mix on St. Armands Circle.” The 1,665-square-foot building was built in 1949 and completely renovated in 2016. A new roof was installed in 2022. SVN’s Mike Migone and Ryan McDonald represented the seller. 

Image courtesy of Ian Black Real Estate

Prime pick up: A 6.5-acre vacant parcel of land just outside Lakewood Ranch is on the market. The property is located on Lorraine Road. According to a marketing flyer, it is 2.4 miles from Lakewood Ranch and University Parkway and 1.1 miles from Fruitville Road. Ian Black Real Estate, which has listed the property, says it is zoned OUE — open use estate — allowing for a variety of uses and offering an “opportunity for health care, veterinarian hospital, day care etc.” The asking price: $1.3 million. Matt Kezar, Nick Devito II and Brie Tulp are representing the property for the Sarasota commercial real estate firm. 

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