Manatee begins moving departments into Lakewood Ranch complex

Cary Knight, director of Property Management for Manatee County, says the county was never in the market for a 100,000-square-foot building.

He and his team were scoping out buildings so they could move the Development Services department out of the county administration building in downtown Bradenton. After passing on a nearby property, the Realtor jokingly mentioned a building that just went up for sale across the street — if the $6 million building they were standing in was too small.