Closed Nellie's Deli building in Sarasota to get new restaurant

Tampa, St. Petersburg, Pasco and Polk

The owners of a three-parcel retail property in Pasco County have gotten a mortgage on it for $3.7 million. The three contiguous parcels are on State Road 54 — between the Suncoast Highway and Crossings Boulevard in Odessa — and count McDonald’s, Starbucks and Chili’s as tenants. The property’s owner is an LLC that belongs to Youngstown, Ohio-based Redstone Investments. Kurt DeVries, managing director at Largo Capital, says in an email that Symetra Life Insurance Co. was the lender and that “the terms were for long term permanent financing.” Largo Capital secured the financing and will service the loan as part of its $4.5 billion servicing portfolio. Sarasota-based Largo was founded in 1989 by Gary Coscia. According to its website, the commercial real estate financing firm has $35 billion in total production and works with 27 lenders.

image courtesy of Plaza Advisors

Central Park Plaza, a shopping center in Pinellas County, has been sold to a New York real estate firm. The 47,653-square-foot center at 1350 Missouri Ave. N. in Largo was bought by an LLC with a Mount Kisco, New York address for $5.6 million. According to the state’s Division of Corporations website, the LLC belongs to a company named Fortune Commercial Management. But its address just outside Rochester matches the real estate development and property management firm Buckingham Properties. That is also the name that appears on the deed for the sale. Plaza Advisors, which represented the sellers and announced the deal, says the center sits on 4.26 acres and was 95% leased at the time of sale with a roster of tenants that includes NAPA Auto Parts, Rent-A-Center, Boost Mobile and AMA Medical Group.

Sarasota and Manatee

There’s a new eatery coming to Sarasota. Claudies is moving into the space previously occupied by Nellie’s Deli at 15 S. Beneva Road. According to Loyd Robbins & Co., which secured the five-year lease, the new family-owned restaurant will serve breakfast and lunch and have a fresh market offering pastries, baked goods, take home dishes and deli sandwiches. It will also offer catering services. The goal is for it to open in early February. The 5,500-square-foot freestanding space is part of Fruitville Forum, a complex developed by Tenth Way Corp. The three-building complex totals 17,600 square feet of rentable space sitting on 3.45 acres of commercial property. Tenth Way recently formed an entity named the Fruitville Forum Land Condominium, which divided the three buildings into separate parcels. As part of the agreement, each owner will have an interest in the parking lot and driveways.

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A nearly 30,000-square-foot office building in Lakewood Ranch has been listed for sale. The brokers on the listing, ERES Companies, are pitching the property, the former home of Centauri Insurance, as a potential corporate headquarters for a new owner. A listing price has not been disclosed; Chris DiBitetto with ERES says full pricing information is available if a prospective buyer signs a confidentiality agreement. The property, 4081 Lakewood Ranch Blvd. N., was built in 2017 and assessed last year at just over $6 million, Sarasota County property records show. ERES President Tom Bradley, in a statement, adds that the Class-A property has “income-producing potential, a development upside and unmatched amenities.” Those amenities, the brokerage says, include a gym and outdoor terrace/lounge overlooking a lake on the third floor. The development includes potential to build a 20,000-square-foot building on the parcel along Professional Parkway.

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Bradenton Estates, a manufactured home community on 26th Avenue West in Bradenton, is part of a $65 million financing package that includes 17 properties in Florida. According to the property owner, Palm Beach-based GMF Group, it will reinvest a “substantial portion” of the loan proceeds back into the communities. The financing, the company says in a statement, also allows it to pay off previous bridge and bank loans on communities and provide liquidity. Citigroup originated the five-year interest-only loan. Brandon Estates is at 1419 26th Ave. GMF bought the 76-unit property in 2022 for $1.56 million. Along with Brandon Estates, GMF’s Florida mobile home communities in the financing package include properties in Lake Placid, Fort Pierce, Hudson, Sebring, Titusville and Avon Park. Arcadia Estates in DeSoto County is also part of the portfolio.

Naples, Fort Myers and Charlotte

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Bonita Bill's Waterfront Café, a well-known Fort Myers Beach restaurant for more than 30 years, has sold. The restaurant was bought by the HM Restaurant Group which already owns the Dixie Fish Co. next door as well as Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille. The restaurant and three surrounding parcels sold for $5.5 million. Bill Semmer, according to a history of the restaurant on its website, bought the restaurant’s property in 1991 and opened Bonita Bill’s. At the beginning it was a concession stand that sold popcorn and beer. It grew though and soon became “a local gem and popular tourist destination where we still live by Bill’s words, ‘No Shirt?, No Shoes?, Can we get you a beer?’” The restaurant suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Semmer was diagnosed with cancer later that year. He died January 2023. Last year, five properties known as the Semmer Family Portfolio was put on the market for $20 million including several residences, a self-storage facility and a marina along with Bonita Bill’s. SVN Commercial Partners, the listing agent, did not respond to questions about the other properties. As for the restaurant space, HM is renaming it Bonita Fish Co.. Renovations are set to begin immediately. The restaurant is expected reopen later this year. 

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