MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – Are you in the market for a prime tourist property? Got a cool $18.5 million lying around?
The Marina at John’s Pass, 179 Boardwalk Place W, is up for sale. But the building is probably better known for some of its longtime tenants like the Friendly Fisherman and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurants.
The property, listed by Cushman and Wakefield, hit the market this week, the real estate firm’s senior director Jason Donald confirmed to 10News.
Situated right on the popular boardwalk of John’s Pass, the 138,000 square foot property includes about a dozen businesses — restaurants and tourist shops — and a 325-space parking garage across the street.
Donald says the property has room for further development — possibly condos or a hotel could be built above the parking garage. The current owners, LCS Associates, no longer have interest in continuing to own and invest in the property, according to Donald, after acquiring it in 2012 in foreclosure when the original owners filed for bankruptcy.
“They’ve had time to manage it, put some capital into it, and now feel it’s a good time in the market to go ahead and recoup their investment,” Donald told 10News.
Larry Butterfield, a tenant who owns the Kilwin’s Chocolate, says the prospect of new ownership brings unknowns which worries him.
"I don't know how the new owners are going to react," Butterfield said. "Hopefully they'll make some improvements. Like I said, we were adjusting to the other owners, and they were just starting to make some improvements.
"It's the unknown that we don't know what's going to happen."
But Donald says new ownership should have little to no impact on current businesses.
“We actually think it will be a good thing, it should do nothing but enhance it,” Donald said. “The property is a high-profile property, the interest that we’ve had has been from what we feel are either really good institutional or high-wealth individuals who would take it over and continue to add to the property.”
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