Baywalk Foreclosure Auction

St. Petersburg's 130,000 square foot retail facility that occupies the space between First Street and Second Avenue North in Downtown St. Petersburg is not without it's shares of problems. After the news of its broker being accused of misappropriation of funds, this property with an original development cost of $50 million now has a foreclosure auction scheduled for February 13th.

Wells Fargo & Co. holds the $14.5 million mortgage on the property and will most likely gain possession of the property since it was recently appraised for only $12 million.

Baywalk Broker Accused of Grand Theft

St. Petersburg's Baywalk Commercial Broker has been accused of Grand Theft. Howard Rosenthal of Commercial Properties Specialist is the accused but has been released. He is accused of misdirecting nearly $171,000 while he was working at Colliers Arnold. Allegations are that he was double-billing or dumming invoices.

Countryside World Savings Bank Sold - $400,000

ARC Realty Services sold the former Countryside World Savings Bank office / retail building at the corner of US Highway 19 North and Sunset Point Road to William Mickle for $400,000. This all cash transaction had only a 5 day contract with 2 days of due dilligence at about $100 per square foot on this Clearwater office space.

Nationwide Store Closings up 43% for 2008 from 2007

In a report released by the Costar Group, retail store closings were up 43% in 2008 over 2007. Their report showed a total of nearly 5,100 store closing with the largest closings being in home accessories and furniture at a net loss of 1,085 stores.

Countryside Pioneer Title Building Sold $1.725mm

Raj Ravi and Shawn Rupp just sold the former Pioneer Title Office Building in Countryside to a dialysis clinic for $1.725 million. This building is roughly 15,000 square feet but the new owners plan on increasing its size to about 17,000 square feet. The building officially closed on December 31st, although the close had actually started November 21st. This property was a short sale and was not marketed for sale at anytime. At the time of this sale, it is one of Countryside's largest commercial office sales this year. There were a lot of hurdles that we needed to overcome, including title problems that have existed for over 20 years and over various ownership interests. Shawn Rupp and Raj Ravi of Prudential represented the buyer. Our relationship with the seller came in October when our day to day prospecting put us in touch with this motivated seller.