School buys $2.1M site in North Port for new campus

Land that was recently sold in North Port will be used for a nonprofit public charter school, according to SVN Commercial Advisory Group, which brokered the sale.

Imagine School at North Port Inc. purchased 1700 E. Price Blvd. for $2.1 million, according to Sarasota County property records, which show the sale closed July 31. The seller is Forest Plaza LLC, which is connected to a Fort Myers commercial real estate agency.

“The property is comprised of four parcels along Price Boulevard in North Port,” SVN Commercial Advisory Group says in an Aug. 21 social media post. “Imagine School at North Port plans to combine their upper and lower campuses currently located on Toledo Blade Boulevard, to establish a brand new school facility at this location.”

The upper campus serves approximately 600 students in 6th through 12th grades on one side of Toledo Blade Boulevard, while the Imagine School’s elementary campus is across the road. In total, the school serves 1,189 students, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Land clearing has begun on the site of the new school building at 1998 Price Blvd. in preparation for construction, upper campus Principal John B. Halcomb says on the Imagine High School at North Port’s Facebook page. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new campus will be planned for September, Holcomb says in the Aug. 20 post.

Imagine School at North Port is part of a national network of more than 50 nonprofit public charter schools that focus on character development as well as academics, according to its website. It is state-funded, independently operated and tuition-free but does have a waiting list.

Tony Veldkamp and Matt Fenske of SVN Commercial Advisory Group handled the sale of the Price Boulevard property, according to the commercial real estate brokerage firm.