Investment group buys Channelside restaurant

BUYER: 514 Channelside Properties LLC (principal: Michael Baker), Greenwood Village, Colo.

SELLER: Fifth Third Bank

PROPERTY: 514 Channelside Drive, Tampa

PRICE: $2.4 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $7.5 million, April 2007

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Zimmerman Kiser & Sutcliffe PA, Orlando

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An investment group purchased the 7,010-square-foot former Newk's Lighthouse Cafe restaurant building for $2.4 million.

The price equated to $342 per square foot.

Michael Baker of Colorado manages the investor group, 514 Channelside Properties LLC. The entity also has partners in Florida and California.

Thomas McGeachy of Ciminelli Real Estate Services of Florida LLC represented the seller and Sean Lance of NAI Tampa Bay represented the buyer.

“They are not 100% sure what they are going to do with it yet,” Lance says. “They may bring their own bar-restaurant there, but they aren't a user at this stage. The group has done multifamily developments if it makes sense to do that.”

The 0.97-acre property was approved for a 38-story mixed-use building of up to 300 residential condos and 16,590 square feet of ground floor retail during the boom. The Channelside property, across from the St. Pete Times Forum, already generates income from event parking.