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Sarasota commercial real estate broker Eric Massey is in unfamiliar territory for recent years: He secured a long list of potential tenants who will want to vie for the opportunity to lease a mere 355 square feet of space.
The catch is the space is next to the gift shop inside the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. The space has never been made available to non-Ritz entities.
Just past the lobby, it's also a space local Ritz executives want to be particular about, given the chain's luxury reputation. “A lot of thought has been put into who we market to,” says Massey, an agent with Sarasota-based Michael Saunders & Co.
The effort included an intense direct marketing campaign, says Massey, where he reached out to both local and national businesses. As of mid-February Massey had compiled a list of nine possible tenants, including a jewelry business, a branch of a bank and wealth-management firm and an art gallery.
Tenants jockeying for the same space is certainly an anomaly these days. Indeed, the vacancy rate for retail space in downtown Sarasota is 10.7%, according to local commercial real estate data.
Massey says he will set up a two-day interview session for Ritz executives to meet with each prospect individually when he reaches a dozen prospective tenants. The Ritz also plans to do a thorough background check on each potential tenant, including two years of financial results.
“We're not really interested in the rate, at least in the onset,” Massey tells Coffee Talk. “[The tenant] has to be a good fit for the Ritz.”
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