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Real Estate Briefs
Bluewater Development
buys large Riviera Dunes piece
Bluewater Development of Sarasota LLC acquired one of the final commercial/residential parcels in Riviera Dunes, a waterfront mixed-use development in Palmetto. Bluewater Development purchased about 32.5 acres, which runs from U.S. 41 to the waterfront, from Riviera Dunes Boardwalk LLC and W.C. Riviera Partners LC for $8.59 million. Bluewater Development is the development company made up of Tim Vining, a principal of Sarasota-based W.G. Mills of Florida LLC; Timothy Morris, a principal of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., based Corvus International; and Larry Lipa, also of Corvus International.
The partners plan to develop four condominium towers, a 7,500-square-foot clubhouse, tennis courts, 50,000 square feet of retail specialty shops along the water, with four restaurant/retail outparcels running along U.S. 41. The towers will each hold 38 units in 10 stories over two floors of parking. The condominiums will range in size from 2,900 to 5,500 square feet and will start at $600,000. The Tampa architecture firm of Curts Gaines Hall and Jones Architects has been hired to design the towers.
The partners, who planned out Riviera Dunes, had originally designed a portion of the 32.5-acre parcel for a hotel, but the new developers say it's better to build condominiums.
Vining says, "We think the residential just fits better than a hotel would. We want to develop a mini-St. Armands on the water. We are planning to build a boardwalk where people can shop as they walk along the water When the development is built out, there will be 700 luxury residents here, plus 220 boat owners."
The partners expect to start work on the first phase, which includes the clubhouse and a tower, by the end of January. W.G. Mills will be the general contractor on the project expected to be complete within four years.
Currently, the partners are interviewing three area real estate firms to market the development. The partners mortgaged the property to Building Union Investment and Local Development Fund of America Trust for $9.3 million.
Inland Retail Real Estate
buys Cortez Plaza
Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Retail Real Estate Trust Inc. bought the 289,110-square-foot Cortez Plaza shopping center from Cortez Pointe LLC and Cortez Point I for $26.6 million. Publix Super Markets, Circuit City, PetsMart and Burlington Coat Factory anchor the shopping center, located at the southeast corner of U.S. 41 and Cortez Road. This center is a single-story multi-tenant building with five outparcels.
"We continue to target grocery-anchored shopping centers because they continue to be the best performers in the industry," said Steve Sanders, senior vice president of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions Inc. in Holmes Beach. "Publix is the leading grocer in the Southeast and among the strongest in the nation."
Sanders represented Inland Retail and Alan Sakowitz represented the seller.
Saunders commercial records more than $45 million in sales
Sarasota-based Michael Saunders & Co.'s commercial investment division broke a company record. In October, the division recorded more than $45 million in sales, the largest single month sales figure for the commercial division in the company's 27-year history. Dan DeVito, commercial manager, says the previous record was in the $20 million range. "This just exceeds everything else we've seen," DeVito says. However, DeVito explained that the record, while an exciting occurrence, was largely influenced by the way closing dates fell. "Typically the deals we do (commercial deals) are dragged out, and it was just luck that they accumulated this close in a particular month. Some deals just fold over one another." The investment division is made of 15 sales people.
Community foundation
breaks ground on new building
The non-profit Community Foundation of Sarasota County has started construction on its new headquarters at 2635 Fruitville Road, the former site of the Elks Club, across the street from the Jewish Family & Children's Services building, just west of Tuttle Ave. The two-story, 16,000 square-foot Mediterranean-style building, designed by architect Don Lawson of the Lawson Group will be built by W.G. Mills Inc. It will be named the Leila and Michael Gompertz Community Foundation Building in honor of Leila Gompertz, a donor, former board chair and founder of the Foundation's Legacy Society. Gompertz gifted $2 million to the foundation enabling the non-profit to purchase the 4.2-acre property.
The Community Foundation will only build and use 1.3 acres of the property. It plans to offer the remaining 2.9 acres for sale through John Harshman of Harshman & Co.
The new building is scheduled for completion in September 2004. The construction permit for the new buildings lists the estimated cost of construction at $2.2 million.
The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity charged with establishing charitable funds. As of May, the community foundation had $79.4 million in assets.
Bradenton Beach developer
plans condo complex
Steve Noriega and Robert Byrne, partners in GSR Development LLC, bought a single-family home at 110 Seventh St. S. on Bradenton Beach from the Ursula Vick Trust for $1.1 million. Noriega says they plan to build two, three-level duplex buildings with parking on the bottom level. The condominiums are expected to start at $1 million. Demolition of the home will start this week. Construction on the duplexes is to start in the next 30 to 45 days. Byrne and Noriega are also developing the multimillion 14-unit upscale Rosa Del Mar at 2508, 2510, 2512 and 2516 N. Gulf Drive, Bradenton Beach.
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