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A partnership led by one of the Tampa Bay area’s most active office investors has acquired the 13-story Sarasota City Center for an estimated $50 million.
The purchase by Feldman Equities LLC and partners sends a signal that Sarasota is becoming a more attractive venue for investments among buyers accustomed to larger urban areas.
The purchase from North Carolina-based The Dilweg Cos. also indicates that the Tampa area — Feldman and partners Tower Realty Partners and syndicator Equity Street own a handful of properties in downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg — may be at least temporarily topped out in regards to value appreciation.
Feldman anticipates spending up to $10 million on improvements to the 1819 Main St. building, which Dilweg bought in April 2017 for $36.5 million. Dilweg has since boosted occupancy and rental rates while making roughly $5 million in enhancements to the 30-year-old property.
“Sarasota City Center is already the best building in downtown Sarasota,” Feldman Equities CEO Larry Feldman says in a statement. “Our goal is to bring the building up in quality to a Class A+ condition.”
Feldman adds that the partnership acquired the 247,947-square-foot building at “less than half the replacement cost” and that the trio doesn’t expect “any new supply to come online in downtown Sarasota for at least four or five years.”
Commercial real estate brokerage firm JLL’s Miami office represented Dilweg in the transaction and arranged for acquisition financing for Feldman and partners.
Sarasota City Center is currently 80% occupied by Merrill Lynch, Boar’s Head Provisions, UBS and others. The building has been leased for much of the past year by Sarasota commercial real estate brokerage Ian Black Real Estate.
Sarasota City Center becomes the latest in a string of Sarasota office acquisitions in the past three years, a list that includes Gateway Professional Centre, the offices of law firm Williams Parker, 1743 Main St., Sarasota Main Plaza and others.
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