Despite continued concern about and very little movement within the Florida commercial real estate market, Manatee County's largest retail real estate sale of the year was recently completed.
The final July 22 sales transaction for Allris Plaza, located at 8320 U.S. 301 North in Parrish, Fla. totaled $2.85 Million. The 20,000 square-foot, multi-tenant shopping center was at 91 percent occupancy at closing, with a pool store, fitness club, residential realty, medical office, Italian restaurant and home decorating store as major tenants. Just a single vacancy remained for lease.
“Allris Plaza is a very well-constructed, quality property,” said Larry Richards, CCIM, lead listing broker in the transaction. “Its immaculate condition, prime location and nearly full occupancy rate were all key factors in Manatee County's biggest commercial real estate sale this year.”
In contrast, the only other two retail real estate transactions for 2010 in Manatee County’s Community Shopping Center Land Use category were for single-tenant retail properties. In early March 2010, a 25,000+ square-foot property sold for $2.256 Million. In early July 2010, a just over 9,000 square-foot property sold for $1.085 Million.
“As we all know, the commercial real estate transaction numbers were staggering in 2009 with national sales at 90 percent less than the peak of the market. Virtually nothing was being traded,” Richards said. “But while Florida commercial and retail real estate transactions are still very low, sales like this – when priced right – are encouraging signs of life.”
