Commercial Real Estate Breifs

By Business Observer Staff
| 6:00 p.m. September 21, 2007
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Tampa Bay-Lakeland

By Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

TAMPA BAY

BPG Properties buys Westshore office park

BUYER: Bay West Tampa Investors LLC, Yardley, PA

SELLER: 5840 WCS Tampa Owner LLC

PROPERTY: 5840 W Cypress St., Tampa

PRICE: $25.4 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Greenberg Traurig PA, Orlando

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: BPG Properties Ltd., a Philadelphia-based private equity real estate fund manager, purchased Bay West Commerce Park, a 196,431-square-foot office complex in Tampa, from a privately held real estate investment firm based in Orlando for $25.4 million and has allocated $2 million for improvements.

The property is about 65% leased. The purchase was made on behalf of BPG Investment Partnership VIII LP, a private equity fund with total equity commitments of $850 million. Mike Davis of Cushman and Wakefield in Tampa represented the seller.

Bay West Commerce Park is an eight-building garden-style office park on 15 acres overlooking Tampa Bay. The complex offers drive-up parking, individual tenant entrances and an on-site cafeteria.

This is the second acquisition BPG has made in Tampa in 2007. Earlier this year, the company acquired Riverside at Telecom Park, a 180,000-square-foot, Class-A office building formerly owned and occupied by Verizon for $24.5 million.

"This acquisition provided us with the opportunity to acquire a professional office park in the desirable Westshore market of Tampa, which has been consistently ranked among the nation's top 10 cities for projected growth in population and employment over the next 10 years," said John Brogan, vice president of BPG who was responsible for the acquisition of the property. "We plan to continue growing our presence in the region."

In 2008, a new Cypress Street exit ramp will be completed off of State Route 60 across from the entrance to Bay West, which is designed to offer improved access and visibility. Planned improvements include upgrading the signage and landscaping, improving the park's amenities and renovating and improving the building's exteriors and interiors.

- David Szymanski

Empire American Holdings

buys two Tampa apartments

BUYER: Empirian Country Square LLC (principal: Ersa Beyman), Montvale, N.J.

SELLER: Sark-Rose Properties 1 LLC

PROPERTY: 8401 Aiken Court

PRICE: $4.02 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $2.75 million, January 2005

SELLER: Sark-Rose Properties 1 LLC

PROPERTY: 8301 Country Square Court

PRICE: $3.72 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $2.34 million, Feb. 2006

BUYER: Empirian Candlwood LLC,

SELLER: West Coast Holdings LLC

PROPERTY: 5908 Oak River Drive,

PRICE: $3.52 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $2.57 million, June 2005

LAW FIRM ON DEED: David R. Carter PA, New Port Richey

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Montvale, N.J.-based Empire Equity Group's Empire American Holdings purchased the 146-unit Country Square Apartments and the 64-unit Candlewood Apartments in Tampa for a total of $11.26 million. The Country Square complex will likely be renamed as the Empirian Country Square and a name change is also likely for the Candlewood Apartments. Officials with Empire American declined further comment on the purchase.

Local investors

acquires Brookside Gardens

BUYER: Albako LLC (principals: Vladimir Jacaj and Flamur Syla), Clearwater

SELLER: Tuskawilla LLC

PROPERTY: 1123 Pinellas Ave., Clearwater

PRICE: $2.25 million

TITLE FIRM ON DEED: Atlas Crest Inc. dba Freedom Title Agency, Clearwater

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Vladimir Jacaj and Flamur Syla purchased the 41-unit Brookside Gardens in Clearwater for $2.25 million.

"We just felt that it was an overall good property," Jacaj says. "It was well maintained, in walking distance to downtown and close to a bus station."

Jacaj, himself an agent with New Vision Realty Inc., says he liked the property because of its close proximity to Cambridge Place Apartments, which he also owns.

Aside from some minor repairs, the biggest focus for the new ownership will be on management and attracting higher quality tenants.

"We're going to be evicting some of the tenants," Jacaj says. "If we can attract the right tenants we should be able make it a 10% [capitalization rate]."

The 14-building complex had a vacancy rate of 5% at the time of the sale. The new owners mortgaged the complex to Imperial Capital Bank for $1.8 million.

Kessler buys land for

St. Pete's Grand Bohemian

BUYER: Grand Bohemian SP Ltd. (principal: Richard Kessler), Orlando

SELLER: City of St. Petersburg Florida

PROPERTY: 100 Second Avenue N., St. Petersburg

PRICE: $3 million

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Richard Kessler's Orlando-based hotel company The Kessler Collection purchased land in downtown St. Petersburg near Baywalk for the developer's planned Grand Bohemian Hotel & Residences. Construction on the 28-story tower is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2008, and completion has been pegged at the winter of 2009

Hunt Construction will be the general contractor for the project, and Fullerton Diaz Architects of Coral Gables designed it.

Faced with the current slow residential market, The Kessler Collection has revised the project to reduce the number of condominium units from 52 to 22 residential units while increasing the hotel guest rooms to 292. The developer declined to comment on the number of condominium presales except to say it had passed the threshold required to fund construction. Condominium units currently range in price from $500,000 to $2 million and the remaining penthouse unit starts at $5 million. The Condo Store at Coldwell Banker is marketing the units.

The development's lower levels will also feature the Grand Bohemian Gallery, the Poseidon Spa, Bohemian Cafe and Market and several restaurants. The sixth floor will feature the Garden B Bohemian with a pool, cabana, lunge, bar, 23,000 square feet of meeting space and fitness center.

Etc...

• Beazer Homes has started construction on 13 two- and three- bedroom townhomes at Hampton Lakes, located off Race Track Road and Nine Eagles Drive just north of Westchase in Tampa. Beazer has already completed construction of 100 town homes at Hampton Lakes and plans to build a total of 176.

SARASOTA-MANATEE

Meridian Business Center

approval approaches

Meridian Development Group, a joint venture of Clearwater's Meridian Cos. and New York-based Hudson Realty Capital LLC, is nearing the start date for an office park companion to its warehouse Meridian Distribution Center at 6100 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, near Palmer Ranch.

Steven Kossoff, managing director for the Meridian Cos., says the developer has almost all of its municipal approvals in place for the 144,000-square-foot office complex next to the former Winn-Dixie distribution facility.

"We're expecting final approval for the site plan on October first," Kossoff says. "We're planning on breaking ground shortly after that. We just hit the market [with marketing] a week ago."

The office development Meridian Business Center will feature six single-story and two three-story office building with units ranging from 800 to 4,500 square feet. The first few buildings are scheduled for delivery in April or May.

"This is not a traditional gingerbread design," he says. "Each of the tenant spaces is designed with their own entrance. The units were also designed to allow in a lot of natural light."

The ADP Group of Sarasota designed the buildings. Loyd Robbins of Harry E. Robbins Associates Inc. is marketing the space.

At the same time, the owners have made progress leasing up the 910,000-square-foot Meridian Distribution Center.

"We have 75% of it rented," Kossoff. "We're leasing space to United Natural Foods - the largest distributor of natural foods - Beall's Department Stores and Rilon Management LLC, which provides third party warehousing for frozen products."

Palmetto hotelier

buys Bayshore Inn

BUYER: RK Enterprises of Palmetto Inc. (principals: Kush and Nimisha Pathak), Palmetto

SELLER: Emil and Mary Dudko

PROPERTY: 3512 N. U.S. 41, Palmetto

PRICE: $2.5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.5 million, July 2003

LAW FIRM ON DEED: James M. Wallace Esq., Bradenton

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Kush Pathak and his wife Nimisha purchased the 86-room Bayshore Inn motel in Palmetto for $2.5 million. In addition to the motel, the property also features a separate bar/lounge building. The Pathaks are renaming the motel the Sahara Inn and plan to renovate the property.

"We'll probably start with the parking lot. It was not properly maintained," says Kush Pathak. "We'll also be painting the outside of the buildings."

The Pathaks already own the 24-unit Carriage Court Motel on nearby Eighth Avenue West, which served as the main impetus for the couple's motel purchase.

"It's about a mile away," Pathak says. "I didn't want someone else to buy [the Bayshore Inn]. We've owned the Carriage motel for about 10 years."

Jayne DiGiovanni, an agent with Re/Max Gulfstream, handled the transaction.

The Pathaks' RK Enterprises of Palmetto mortgaged the property to the former owners Emil and Mary Dudko for $756,939.81.

Courthouse Centre developer planning Adams Lane project

Serial developer Dr. Mark Kauffman has filed a preliminary plan to develop 154,000 square feet of office space in a pair of four-story buildings and a 464-space parking garage at the west side of U.S. 301, between Adams Lane and Ringling Boulevard in downtown Sarasota.

The modern buildings are designed to heavily feature glass, concrete and a new wood-paneling technology being developed in Spain. The special wood finish has been proven to resist damage from intense sun and water, Kauffman says.

"It should be a very unique building," Kauffman says.

The project is the latest proposal by Kauffman, who has owned the property since 2003 and had previously designated it for a mixed-use condominium project. That project never started.

Kauffman currently hopes to break ground on the first building, a triangular-shaped 30,000 square-foot structure, next year. The building will house three floors of office space and one floor of retail facing Ringling Boulevard.

The larger 124,000 square-foot building and parking garage would be constructed later.

Kauffman's project qualifies for fast-track approval under the city's downtown core zoning. Because the developer is not asking for increased density or square footage, the city's planning staff will review the project and it will not appear before the City Commission or planning board.

Bruce Franklin, of The ADP Group, a Sarasota-based architectural design firm, is designing the project. Franklin said his firm is also part of the investment team and plans to move its headquarters into the first-phase building.

"We're really excited about it," Franklin said. "We were really concerned about staying downtown. We didn't know if we could afford it, and this allows us to stay in the city."

-Reporting by Roger Drouin

Etc...

• Gentiva Health Systems leased 3,600 square feet of office space in Palisades Park at International Center at 6811 Palisades Park Court, Fort Myers from Stow International LLC and Pyramid International LLC. The Retail Team of Karen Johnson-Crowther, Charlene Greenblatt, Salli Jones-Doyon, and Lindsey Schmoyer of Colliers Arnold represented the landlord. Betsy Bayram of Mohr Partners, Inc. represented the tenant.

• Market America Realty & Investment, Inc. has moved to a new location in Brantley Commons Office Park at 12401 Brantley Commons Court. Gregg Fous, the company's owner and founder, separated his residential division from Market America Realty and Investments Inc.

"This will give us twice as much space," Fous said in a press release. "Our commercial division is expanding, and we needed the additional space. I further felt that the globalization of our residential market necessitated a bold move to the crisp, international, Engel and Vöelkers concept. We just did not have the room to expand with both concentrations in the same space."

• Lennar Homes has awarded Fort Myers-based J.L. Wallace Inc. a contract to build five pool houses at Heritage Bay, a new community located at 10168 Heritage Bay Blvd. in Naples.

The pool houses range in size from 576 to 812 square feet, and will be laid out throughout the community. Each pool house will feature a 904-square-foot pool and two restrooms for residents. Two of the pool houses will offer two additional restroom facilities for golf course patrons. One pool house was recently completed, two are under construction, and two are in the permitting process.

Tisch and Associates provided architectural design services.

In other associated Heritage Bay news, J.L. Wallace recently began construction of the Tennis Pro Shop at Heritage Bay. The 1,238-square-foot pro shop will feature office and retail space, servicing seven Har-Tru tennis courts with an underground Hydro-Court watering system.

• Manatee Pawn Inc. purchased a 1,500-square-foot condominium unit at 515 27th St. E., unit E, Bradenton in Two Rivers Business Park from S&C Investments of Southwest Florida LLC for $210,000. Rico Boeras PA of Preferred Commercial Inc. handled the transaction.

• The Sarasota Architectural Foundation has raised the $25,000 required to qualify for a matching $25,000 grant from the World Monuments Fund. The grant, awarded to help with the preservation of the Paul Rudolph buildings on Sarasota's Riverview High School campus, is being provided by the WMF "Modernism at Risk" program and its founding sponsor, Knoll. The Sarasota Architectural Foundation's Revive Rudolph's Riverview committee has raised $69,188, which includes most of the WMF matching grant funding.

The money will be used for a design and a financial proposal competition to provide for the preservation and alternative use of Rudolph's historic buildings, which are currently scheduled for demolition.

• Kesselring Holding Corp. has leased 5,964 square feet of office space in the John Cannon Offices at 6710 Professional Parkway W. in Sarasota. Anthony Homer of Hembree & Associates and Tom Wolf of John Cannon Offices handled the transaction.

"With the substantial growth of Kesselring Holding Corp., [a] new headquarters for the executive team and additional infrastructure have become a necessity," Kesselring CEO Douglas P. Badertscher said in a press release. "Our new Sarasota office is suitable for our future growth, including corporate management, SEC compliance and reporting, merger and acquisition implementation, marketing and accounting."

• Brooks & Freund has started construction on a three-story office building for Riverside Bank, at 7331 College Parkway. The project calls for constructing a 39,874-square-foot building, with 6,963 square feet planned for Riverside Bank's tenth office location. The balance of the building will be leased as general office space. Avalon Engineering provided architectural design services. Construction is expected to be complete in February.

• Sarasota County commissioners have completed a deal with Habitat for Humanity South that will be the first public-private partnership to benefit from the Community Housing Fund. Habitat will receive about $660,000 from the Community Housing Fund to build 18 multi-family residences for people whose income doesn't exceed 80% of the area median income. The Community Housing Trust will own the land in order to keep the housing permanently affordable.

In June 2007, the county commissioners selected seven affordable community housing projects that would be eligible to receive funds from the Community Housing Fund. The other six projects are: Down Payment Assistance, Rehabilitation, Hatton Street, Laurel Street, Habitat for Humanity/Leonard Reid and First Step. Funding for the Community Housing Trust came from the county's share of the sale of escheated lots in North Port in 2006.

LEE-COLLIER

Venice brothers buy Punta Gorda land

BUYER: Madagascar LLC (principals: Rod and Al Khleif), Venice

SELLER: Deplonty Properties LLC

PROPERTY: 28200 Bermont Road, Punta Gorda

PRICE: $5.375 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Robert J. Norton PA, Punta Gorda

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Venice residential developers/investors Rod and Al Khleif purchased 60 acres on Bermont Road 1.5 miles east of the Interstate 75 interchange in Punta Gorda for $5 million. The property includes 48-acres of RMF-12 zoned vacant land and the 79-unit Villas Del Sol townhome community.

"That zoning means we could develop a total of 576 units out there," Rod Khleif says. "It's a great opportunity for a large multi-family project, possibly an affordable housing play. It was a distressed sale so we got it for about half of what it was worth, which made it a phenomenal deal."

The new owners are still evaluating their plans for the site. Khleif says the new owners were particularly attracted to the land because of all the development in the area. The site is a few miles north of the Charlotte County Airport.

The Khleif brothers previously built and rented-out single-family homes.

"The market is obviously very tenuous for that right now," Rod Khleif says. "We are selling off most of our interests. The good news is that our portfolio is still fairly stable."

At the same time, the brothers are also working to develop a self-storage facility off U.S. 41 in Palmetto.

The Khleif's investment company, Madagascar LLC, mortgaged the property to Whitney National Bank for $4.9 million.

Investor change

leads to $15-million sale

BUYER: Three Oaks-Alico 59 LLC (principal: Daniel Kelly), North Fort Myers

SELLER: Three Oaks 59 LLC

PROPERTY: north of Alico Road and the future Three Oaks extension, Fort Myers

PRICE: $15.2 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $6.86 million, October 2005

TITLE FIRM ON DEED: Elite Title Services of Southwest Florida, Fort Myers Beach

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An investment group headed by Daniel Kelly of Eagle Construction Services LLC bought out one of its partners and transferred the 47 acres at the north of Alico Road bordered by the future Three Oaks extension and Interstate 75 in Fort Myers back to the remaining group for $15.2 million. Tom Woodyard of Gates D'Alessandro & Woodyard is marketing the property, which is zoned for a large commercial development.

"It's approved for 300,000 square feet of retail, 51,000 square feet of office and an 125-room hotel," Woodyard says. "We're asking $9.85 a square foot, or $20.2 million. One of big selling points is it has 940 feet of frontage on Interstate 75."

The new partnership Three Oaks-Alico 59 LLC mortgaged the property to the former ownership Three Oaks 59 LLC for $10 million.

Wiegold & Sons moving

to Enterprise Avenue

BUYER: Wiegold & Sons Inc. (principals: Jamey Seely, Eric Salzer, Deryk King, Scott Boose and Victor Raqucci), Dayton, Ohio

SELLER: The Sorbara Co.

PROPERTY: 4380 Enterprise Ave., Naples

PRICE: $1.35 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $288,000, January 1997

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Marc F. Oates PA, Naples

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Naples-based HVAC contractor Wiegold & Sons has purchased a 10,000-square-foot flex building in Naples for $1.35 million.

"We've just outgrown our existing facilities," says Dave Borowski vice president of Wiegold & Sons. "We've been operating from two buildings on J&C Boulevard. They're probably 3,500 square feet each."

The new location made sense because it would allow the HVAC contractor to consolidate some of its functions and exercise better inventory control over the warehouse space, Borowski say. Wiegold & Sons leased its two current buildings.

"This should also put us closer to our consumer base," he says. "It puts us close to a lot of suppliers down there too. Because of the Livingston Extension it should be easier soon for us to offer quicker service to the fringe areas such as Golden Gate Estates."

The Enterprises Avenue location houses 3,500-4,000 square feet of office space, and the company plans to create a training and safety area in the center of the building and a radio broadcast center.

The company expects to have completed its move in the next 60 days. Wiegold & Sons is a division of Direct Energy.

Etc...

• Community Engineering Services has started work on the Bella Villa Shops in the Daniels Parkway Business Center at the corner of Appaloosa Lane and Daniels Parkway. The two-story, 20,000-square-foot building will include a 1,400-square-foot restaurant, an Italian market and 18,600 square feet of office and retail space. Community Engineering Services is providing surveying, conceptual site planning, engineering site design, permitting, construction specifications, water management and environmental permitting. Sal Basile is developing the project.

• Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. completed construction management services for the upper school campus at Seacrest Country Day School's 13,500-square-foot expansion.

• Camp Bow Wow of Fort Myers Inc. leased 6,250 square feet at 3890 Veronica Shoemaker, Fort Myers from Cumberland Enterprises LLC.

• Fort Myers-based Stevens Construction Inc. has completed construction of Dr. Shannon Bennett's dental office at 8920 Gladiolus Drive in Fort Myers near Bass Road and HealthPark Medical Center. The dental office included a reception area, five treatment rooms, a medical lab and administrative office space. Christopher J. Lee Architects of Fort Myers designed the project.

• The Fort Myers Division of Tri-City Electrical Contractors Inc. completed $7 million of work at the new St. Tropez/Riviera Condominiums in Fort Myers under a contract with Boran Craig Barber Engel Construction Co. The project features two 28-story towers.

• A&D Real Estate Holdings LLC purchased a 6,000-square-foot freestanding restaurant space at 24041 S. Tamiami Trail, unit 101, Bonita Springs from Colony Associates LLC for $2.6 million. Bob Pockrandt of American Business Brokers and John Humphrey of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT handled the transaction.

• Compass Construction Inc. has completed the third and final phase of Van Loon Commons at the intersection of Hancock Bridge Parkway and Del Prado Boulevard in Cape Coral. Phase I of Van Loon Commons consisted of one three-story, 15-unit condominium building with a clubhouse and pool. Phase II featured three three-story, 15-unit condominium buildings. The largest phase, phase III, featured six three-story buildings for a total of 150 residential units.

• Stevens Construction Inc. has been awarded a contract to build new covered entrances to three Shell Point Retirement Community mid-rise buildings and revitalize the courtyard at 15081 Shell Point Marina.

Stevens Construction will convert the existing entrance areas and courtyard into a useable outdoor space for residents of the Turban, Lucina and Junonia buildings. Designed by Christopher Lee Architects, each new entrance will be covered with a curved aluminum sunshade trellis. The courtyard will feature brick pavers, decorative landscaping and seating.

Construction is scheduled to start in September, and the project is scheduled for completion in January.

Brooks & Freund has begun construction on Acapulco at Burnt Store Lakes, a luxury condominium community, at 17074 Acapulco Road in Punta Gorda. The community consists of 10 two-story buildings with a total of 60 condominium units.

The two- and three-bedroom condo homes range from 1,282 to 1,592 square feet and include one-car garages. The community offers a heated swimming pool and spa, and is located near Burnt Store Marina and Country Club.

Bloodgood Sharp Buster Architects and Planners, Inc. provided architectural design services. Construction is expected to be completed in March of 2008.