Downtown Sarasota properties sell for $13 million

A pair of connected downtown Sarasota buildings have sold to a local buyer.

The buildings, 1400 and 1410 Main St., were bought by local investor Eric Baird with Baird Inc. from Chris Brown, a Sarasota-area entrepreneur, real estate investor and co-founder of the Above the Bar Hospitality Group.

Baird did not disclose the sale price, but Sarasota County records show the properties sold for $13 million. Brown paid $2.65 million in 2013.

According to a news release from Baird, the 1410 Main St. property will keep its current tenant, Sunburn Cannabis Dispensary.

As for 1400 Main St., it is the future home of Warrens, a fine-dining, whiskey-infused restaurant that’s in the works on the second floor of the building. Warrens is a joint partnership with high-end Fort Lauderdale bar and restaurant company Damn Good Hospitality. The previous tenant in the 1400 Main space was sneaker and athletic gear store Fit2Run.

The purchase is just the latest for Baird in downtown Sarasota.

In 2020, Baird bought the Kress Building at 1440 Main St. for $5.8 million.

He was also part of a group of investors who sold a portion of the Main Street Plaza complex on Main Street to a Greenwich, Connecticut. based real estate investment trust in 2019 for $20 million.

And in early 2019 he bought the Hotel Ranola, a boutique hotel in downtown Sarasota, for $2.9 million.

It was also not the first deal he’s done with Brown. It is, according to the statement, actually the fourth within the past few months “approaching close to $25 million in total.”

Brown, in the statement, says selling the downtown properties is emotional but credits Baird for making the process simple. "When I decide to liquidate another property in downtown, Eric will be the first person I call."