County, Benderson negotiate sale of downtown administration building

After negotiating with six parties interested in purchasing the Sarasota County Administration Building on Ringling Boulevard, officials have identified a preferred purchaser for the downtown site: Benderson Development Co.

On Tuesday, the County Commission voted unanimously to allow staff to advance negotiations and develop a purchase and sale agreement for the properties at 1660 Ringling Blvd., 1646 Morrill St. and 1703 Morrill St.

In its revised proposal, Benderson offered to purchase the 5.3-acre package for $25 million, $5 million more than its initial submission. The local developer would lease back the administration building to the county for $1 million a year for four years until a new facility on Cattlemen Road is complete. Although Benderson’s initial offer was conditioned on the county relocating to the Benderson-owned University Town Center area, the latest proposal removes that requirement.

Benderson’s offer represents the highest purchase price and the lowest lease rate among the six revised purchase proposals. Although all six companies submitted a bid of at least $23.25 million, the other lease proposals were $1.88 million annually or higher for the first year. County staff characterized the Benderson proposal as the best financial package, noting that the net proceeds from the Benderson offer were more than $5 million higher than any other submission.

Although the commission authorized staff to proceed with negotiations, at least one board member questioned the prospect of selling the building based on the offers the county received. Commissioner Nancy Detert believes the land was worth more than the proposals from interested buyers would indicate. She said the current zoning on the property, which restricts the site to governmental uses, depressed the value of the site, which she estimated at $60 million.

Detert suggested the county could file an application with the city to change the zoning classification to a less restrictive downtown designation. Once that process was complete, Detert said she thought the land would fetch more money — and the county would have to spend less time leasing the office space from a purchaser.

“​​Since we’re not having a fire sale, I presume, and not moving quickly out of the building, why don’t we save ourselves a million dollars’ worth of rent and go through a rezoning?” Detert said.

The rest of the commission said negotiating an agreement with Benderson would not preclude the county from ultimately deciding to hold off on a sale. Still, other board members emphasized the projected expenses associated with maintaining the Ringling Boulevard building, a major factor behind the decision to place the property on the market and build a new office near the interstate. Commissioners Al Maio and Christian Ziegler said they felt the building is currently serviceable but also that staff presentations about future maintenance needs made a compelling case for relocating in the near future.

“I think it’s in less good shape than we suspect it is,” Maio said about the building.

Detert questioned whether the county or Benderson would be responsible for covering maintenance costs during the term of a lease following a potential sale. County staff said details of a lease agreement would be part of the negotiations with Benderson.

This article has been updated with information from the Tuesday, Sept. 28 County Commission meeting.