Marco Island investor buys office building

BUYER: Ariyan LLC (principal: Thomas Garousi), Marco Island

SELLER: Dennis and Marilyn Downes

PROPERTY: 551 Collier Blvd. S., Marco Island

PRICE: $1 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $690,000, July 1998

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Thomas Garousi of Marco Island purchased a 6,000-square-foot office building for $1 million. The price equated to $167 per square foot.

Doris Taylor of CB Richard Ellis, Fort Myers/Naples handled the transaction.

“This was built as a bank building, but it was last used as office space,” Taylor says. “It held an attorney and a real estate company on the first floor and a chiropractor on the second floor. It was sold vacant. The location drove the price. It's near the beach and there's a lot of foot traffic in that area.”

Originally built in 1982, the building's roof was replaced in 2005.

Taylor says Garousi is an investor that hopes to improve the two-story building and lease it. The purchase entity Ariyan LLC mortgaged the property to PNC Bank for $800,000.