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Commercial Real Estate Briefs
by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor
LEE-COLLIER
Yacht dealer acquires site for showroom
BUYER: Walter and Patricia Baldo, Cape Coral
SELLER: Investors' Security Trust Co. successor trustee of the Elbridge Williams and Mary Lou Williams Trust
PROPERTY: 1044 N.E. Pine Island Road, Cape Coral
PRICE: $1.37 million
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Sheppard Brett Stewart Hersch Kinsey & Hill PA, Fort Myers
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Dr. Walter Baldo and his wife Patricia Baldo purchased 2.25 acres and a 25-year-old warehouse building for $1.37 million. The Baldos plan to put a modular office on the site for their Cape Regal Yacht Center boat/yacht dealership in the near term while the couple awaits approval to develop a permanent new office/showroom.
"That is in a really up-and-coming section of the city," Dr. Baldo says. "That area is getting built up and there's plenty of traffic. We felt this would give [us] a chance to grow and a better location with more exposure."
The new building is still being designed, but Baldo expects it to be about 9,000 square feet. He also plans to eventually refurbish the existing 10,500-square-foot warehouse so that much of the dealership's service work will be conducted there.
The Baldos mortgaged the property to Wachovia Bank NA for $1.23 million.
Port Charlotte group pays
$55 a foot for Paulson flex
BUYER: Dalmana Development LLC (principals: Paul and Anna D' Alessandro and Eugene and Denise Germana), Port Charlotte
SELLER: K&D LC
PROPERTY: 18440 Paulson Drive, Port Charlotte
PRICE: $1.1 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $700,000, December 1999
LAW FIRM ON DEED: McKinley Ittersagen Gunderson Berntsson & Wideikis PA, Port Charlotte
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An investment group, headed by Paul and Anna D' Alessandro and Eugene and Denise Germana of Charlotte County, purchased a 20,000-square-foot flex building on 1.6 acres in Port Charlotte for $1.1 million. Ron Struthers in the Port Charlotte office of CB Richard Ellis brokered the transaction.
"The investment company owns three other warehouses in town," Struthers says. "The building only had 6,000 square feet occupied at the time of the acquisition, so this wasn't really bought on cap[italization rate.] This was bought because the price was right."
The price, which equates to $55 a square foot, is clearly on the low end of the spectrum even for the overbuilt flex/office market in Charlotte County. The middle part of the warehouse market tends to be in the $87 to $95 a square foot range. The seller needed a buyer to take over the property quickly, Struthers says, and the new owner was able to commit and close in two weeks.
Following the purchase, the new owners were able to secure tenants for all but about 4,000 square feet. Current tenants include stucco, concrete, drywall and interior finishings contractors and a marble company. Struthers is marketing the remaining vacant space for about $7 a square foot gross.
"What it is right now is a pricing game," Struthers says. "We are almost at 2000 or 2001 lease rates following the housing slowdown. That pressure has been on the lease market for about year now. A lot of new office and flex product [have] come onto the market at the same time. We're seeing a lot of the construction industry downsizing or right-sizing right now."
Dalmana Development LLC mortgaged the property to Charlotte State Bank for $880,000.
Former owners reassume
Lehigh industrial park land
BUYER: FWD Development Co. LC (principals: Douglas Francis, Alan Williams and Guadalupe Delacruz), Lehigh Acres
SELLER: 82 Commercial Group Inc. and Larry Legel, as successor trustee of the Orange Blossom Trust u/a/d Jan. 13, 1973
PROPERTY: 5521-5561 Fourth St. W., Lehigh Acres
PRICE: $2.44 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.25 million, March 2006
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Roetzel & Andress LPA, Fort Myers
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The Lehigh Acres-based limited company FWD Development Co. LC has taken back its 6.5 acres tract on Fourth Street in Westgate Industrial Park in lieu of foreclosure from 82 Commercial Group Inc. and Larry Legel, as successor trustee of the Orange Blossom Trust. The returning owners have hired Jim Boback of Boback Commercial Group at Re/Max Edge to put the property back on the market.
The vacant property is being sold for development as an approximately 70,000-square-foot industrial park, but it will still require a development order prior to obtaining building permit approval. Boback is asking $1.97 million for the property, equal to $7 a square foot.
Etc...
• Nurse On Call Inc. leased 3,329 square feet of space at 8771 College Parkway, Building I, in Fort Myers from Medsup Development LLC. Randal L. Mercer of CB Richard Ellis Fort Myers-Naples represented the landlord, and Brian M. Lightle of Lightle Commercial Inc. represented the tenant.
• Benderson Development awarded Fort Myers-based Eagle Concrete Systems a contract to complete concrete and masonry work for Colonial Square Building 4B, a retail facility at the intersection of Colonial Boulevard and Six Mile Cypress Parkway in Fort Myers. Eagle Concrete will provide the structure's concrete pads, footing, slab and walls.
• Fort Myers-based Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. has completed construction of the Southwest Florida Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located at the foot of the Fort Myers side of the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
SARASOTA-MANATEE
Thomas Ranch developer trades with county
BUYER: Fourth Quarter Properties XXXII LLC
SELLER: Sarasota County
PROPERTY: Thomas Ranch right of way for the northern extension of Pine Street, between Englewood and North Port
PRICE: $19.27 million
BUYER: Sarasota County
SELLER: Fourth Quarter Properties XXXII LLC
PROPERTY: Thomas Ranch bordering South River Road
PRICE: $19.27 million
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Thomas Ranch-developer Fourth Quarter Properties has completed a strategic trade for its development of the 2,850-acre Gottfried Stewardship Village and the ranch. The Newnan, Ga.-based developer traded about 237 acres with Sarasota County in exchange for roughly the same acreage of right of way for the extension of Pine Street. The county received about 170 acres of right of way along River Road and 68 acres of environmental land. k
Fourth Quarter Properties' new property extends from near Dearborn Street to U.S. 41, allowing the developer to build a north-south road, which would connect Pine Street to U.S. 41.
Fourth Quarter Properties plans to develop more than 15,000 homes in the approximately 10,650-acre ranch.
Longboat Key resident
buys former Starfish Motel
BUYER: VentureCorp Properties LLC (principal: Peter Swain), Longboat Key
SELLER: 2929 GMD LLC
PROPERTY: 2929 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key
PRICE: $2.4 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.88 million, April 2005
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Icard Merril Cullis Timm Furen & Ginsburg PA, Bradenton
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: A company owned by Longboat Key resident Peter Swain purchased a nearby 3,600-square-foot, seven-unit motel formerly known as the Starfish Motel on slightly less than half an acre for $2.4 million. Swain or his attorney were unavailable for comment.
Swain has had a long-running legal conflict with the Longboat Key Zoning Board of Adjustment over a waterfront variance for his residential property at 2913 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Swain sued over a zoning board decision denying him a variance to build closer to the water.
Swain's VentureCorp Properties LLC mortgaged the property to the former owner 2929 GMD LLC for $650,000.
Rainmaker Trading Co.
buys two Venice stores
BUYER: Friendship 7 LLC (principal: Peter Richard), Venice
SELLER: James Lynch
PROPERTY: 317 and 319 W. Venice Ave., Venice
PRICE: $1.29 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $325,000, February 2001 and $260,000, September 2001
LAW FIRM ON DEED: John Cook PA, Sarasota
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Venice landowner Peter Richard of Rainmaker Trading Co. LLC purchased two retail buildings on Venice Avenue for $1.29 million. The 2,200-square-foot building at 317 W. Venice Ave. features Bonnell's Boutique and Winery and Krystyna's Designs Inc., while the adjacent 2,100-square-foot building houses the men's clothing store Captain's Landing.
Calls to Richard were not returned prior to publication.
Richard's Friendship 7 LLC mortgaged the property to Insignia Bank for $1.03 million.
Etc...
• Lighthouse Pointe LLC purchased 918 N. Washington Blvd. in Sarasota from Candace A. Hunter and CJH Hospitality Sarasota Inc. for $875,000. Ian Black and Steve Horn of Ian Black Real Estate handled the transaction.
• Signature Food Group LLC has leased 3,136 square feet at 918 N. Washington Blvd. in Sarasota from Lighthouse Point LLC for five years. Ian Black and Steve Horn of Ian Black Real Estate and Konrald Ndah of Florida International Properties Group LLC handled the transaction.
• On May 6, Sarasota County voters approved plans by the county to borrow up to $300 million to fast-track dozens of projects over the next 72 months. About $190 million in projects can be fast-tracked; a little more than half of the projects can begin within the next year. The projects will ultimately be funded by the penny sales tax. The bond authorization lasts until the county reaches $300 million of eligible debt or the end of the surtax.
• Palmetto-based Zirkelbach Construction has been selected to renovate the Stone River Condominiums in Bradenton. The project features interior and exterior renovations to an existing 3,446-square-foot, two-story office building. Zirkelbach was also selected for the interior build-out of Facelogic, a new day spa in Wesley Chapel.
• Peek Traffic Corp. has leased the 55,824-square-foot Gammerler Industrial Facility in Palmetto's Gulfcoast Corporate Park for six and a half years. Peek Traffic makes traffic-control products. Anthony V. Migliore of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT in Sarasota represented the landlord; Bruce Vaughan of the Staubach Cos. in Tampa represented the tenant.
TAMPA BAY
Two office buildings sell for $19.25 million
BUYER: BSH I Owner LLC, Orlando
SELLER: AG Buschwood 1 LLC (42% interest), AG Buschwood 2 LLC (8%), AG Buschwood 3 LLC (18%), AG Buschwood 6 LLC (2.5%), AG Buschwood 7 LLC (2.5%), AG Buschwood 8 LLC (4.005%), AG Buschwood 9 LLC (4.22%), AG Buschwood 10 LLC (4.92%), AG Buschwood 11 LLC (3%) AG Buschwood 12 LLC (5%) AG Buschwood 13 LLC (5.855%)
PROPERTY: 3550 Buschwood Park Drive, Tampa
PRICE: $9.63 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $5.4 million, December 1995
BUYER: BSH II Owner LLC, Orlando
SELLER: AG Buschwood 1 LLC (42% interest), AG Buschwood 2 LLC (8%), AG Buschwood 3 LLC (18%), AG Buschwood 6 LLC (2.5%), AG Buschwood 7 LLC (2.5%), AG Buschwood 8 LLC (4.005%), AG Buschwood 9 LLC (4.22%), AG Buschwood 10 LLC (4.92%), AG Buschwood 11 LLC (3%) AG Buschwood 12 LLC (5%) AG Buschwood 13 LLC (5.855%)
PROPERTY: 3450 Buschwood Park Drive, Tampa
PRICE: $9.63 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $6.25 million, January 1996
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, Miami
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Orlando-based real estate investment firm Eola Capital LLC purchased two, three-story office buildings: Buschwood I and Buschwood II in Buschwood Office Park for $19.25 million. The purchase added 171,161 square feet (building I is 83,142 square feet and building II is 88,019 square feet) to Eola Capital's office portfolio for the equivalent of $112 a square foot. Eola Capital already owned Buschwood III, the final building in the office park.
"We saw this as a great opportunity to own something special in the northwest market," says Kyle Burd, principal/regional vice president for Eola Capital. "We always felt that market had potential. They're nice buildings, but they need some improvements. We're planning to spend in excess of $1.2 million right out of the gate. They're going to be getting a makeover."
The new ownership plans to make mechanical upgrades and improvements to the HVAC system, landscaping and common areas. The buildings were 85% occupied at the time of the sale, Burd says. The vacant space is being marketed for $21 a square foot triple net.
"They're also heavily populated by tenants related to the homebuilding industry," Burd says. "So we've underwritten it with the expectation that we may have some of the tenants not renew or go out of business."
Current tenants include Keller Williams, KB Homes, Richmond Homes and Countrywide Financial. Building III is currently 100% occupied.
The tenant uncertainty, improvements needed and current problems in the financial markets all contributed to a lower than normal purchase price.
Eola Capital's purchase entities BSH I Owner LLC and BSH II Owner LLC mortgaged the two buildings to Regions Bank for $16 million. Christian R. Lee, vice chairman of CB Richard Ellis' Institutional Group, Charles J. Foschini, vice chairman of South Florida CBRE Debt & Equity Finance team, and Christopher Apone, vice president of South Florida CBRE Debt & Equity Finance team, arranged the financing.
Grocery chain Aldi buys
land for Plant City store
BUYER: Aldi Florida LLC (Aldi Inc.), Batavia, Ill.
SELLER: Johnson Road Development LLC
PROPERTY: 204 Johnson Road, Plant City
PRICE: $1.08 million
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Bush Ross PA, Tampa
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Batavia, Ill.-based discount grocer Aldi USA purchased four acres north of Johnson Road, near the intersection with the James L. Redman Parkway, for $1.08 million. Aldi plans to start construction on one of its 16,000-square-foot prototype grocery stores on the site soon for an October opening. Sarasota-based Kellogg & Kimsey Inc. has been signed to be the general contractor for the store.
The Plant City store is part of the first wave of the grocer's expansion into Tampa Bay. In September, Aldi plans to open five stores at 8521 Hillsboro Ave., Tampa; 177 N. Missouri Ave., Largo; 810 E. Brandon Blvd., Brandon; 6700 66th St., Pinellas Park; and 24756 U.S. 19, Clearwater. Aldi plans to follow that in October with a Lakeland store on U.S. 98.
The grocer expects to expand to the periphery of Tampa Bay, including in Sarasota/Bradenton, next year.
Two investment groups
buy B-of-A buildings
BUYER: Cayboa LLC (75% interest) and Ganboa LLC (25%) (principals: Carlos Yepes and Greg Nowak), Pinellas Park
SELLER: American Financial TRS Inc.
PROPERTY: 125 Indian Rocks Road,
PRICE: $1.5 million
PROPERTY: 2600 East Bay Drive, Largo
PRICE: $1.2 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.64 million, October 2004
PROPERTY: 7500 Gulf Blvd., St. Petersburg
PRICE: $950,000
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Two limited-liability companies, headed by Carlos Yepes and Greg Nowak of the Belleair Development Group, purchased three bank buildings from the Philadelphia-based real estate investment trust American Financial TRS for a total of $3.65 million. Bank of America occupies all three of the properties. Bank of America agreed to an 11.5-year lease for 15,374 square feet in the Belleair Bluffs property, 4,929 square feet in the St. Petersburg building and 8,213 square feet in the Largo building.
Yepes was unavailable for comment.
Cayboa LLC and Ganboa LLC mortgaged the properties to Regions Bank for $3.54 million.
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