- April 27, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
A real estate and development firm specializing in multifamily housing recently closed on a Palmetto property near the Manatee River that is key to its plans to create a mixed-use development there. Gray Property Group purchased 336 10th Ave. W. for $440,000, Managing Principal Nick Gray says in a phone interview on Monday. The deal closed Friday, April 24.
Gray Property Group plans to use the site for an apartment complex called Marina & Main that will also include 18,000 square feet of retail space.
The property seller was R H Properties LLC, which is registered to Roger F. Hruby of Palmetto, according to Manatee County property records. The LLC bought the 0.5-acre parcel in 2004 for $800,000, property records show.
“For 23 months, the property was under contract,” Gray Property Group says on social media. “This closing also allowed us to complete a 1031 exchange, rolling capital from a prior sale into a long-term development opportunity.”
Gray says he used a property sale in New Hampshire to complete the exchange.
The parcel in Palmetto is one of two that Gray Property Group is buying to develop its apartment project. To create Marina & Main, it is also under contract with the city of Palmetto to buy an adjacent parcel at 320 10th Ave. W. that spans 1.16 acres for $1.11 million. The property is currently used as a city parking lot with 78 spaces, Gray says.
A deed restriction is being cleared on the city-owned parcel, and the firm is targeting a clear title within the next 120 days, followed by entitlements and a path to construction.
Groundbreaking for Marina & Main is projected to take place in late 2027.
“Along the way, we have secured a comprehensive plan amendment, a 13-year tax incentive and a 60-year public parking garage lease,” the property group writes on social media. “These are the pieces that make a project like this feasible.”
Plans for the garage call for 90 public parking spaces that are city-controlled, at least 60 retail spaces that are open to the public and 140 spaces for Marina & Main residents, Gray says.
While Gray says it is too early to name any potential tenants at the development, he expects it to have about 10 storefronts.
"My guess is there would be four restaurants," he says, "at least one fitness component, a couple of health and beauty establishments, some shops and boutiques and maybe a satellite bank office" or a small market. "The idea is that someone could, in theory, live, work and play all in one place."
Gray Property Group — which has offices in Sarasota and New Hampshire — owns and operates $15.3 million of real estate and manages third-party property totaling $31.2 million in market value. Within its portfolio is Phillippi Square Apartments, a 28-unit property in Sarasota, which the firm purchased in September 2025 for $4.9 million.
Marina & Main will be the firm's first ground-up development in Florida, according to Gray, who says the company has been a part of such projects in New Hampshire.
Closing on the Palmetto parcel was a "mini milestone on a long journey to get the project built," Gray says, adding that the response to the concept so far has been positive.
"A vacant half-acre lot and then a one-acre city parking lot immediately on the riverfront is a huge underutilization of the site," Gray says. "It's a special opportunity for us to inject new life into Palmetto's downtown by bringing luxury apartments, first-class retail and then public parking ... And I think it will be a catalyst for more projects like this to come to the downtown."
