Railroad Plaza, Fugate’s building sold
Last week two real estate transactions took place that were quite important to the downtown historic district – the purchase of the Railroad Plaza building in the 400 block of E. Railroad Avenue and the Fugate’s building, which includes Fugate’s, The Patio Shoppe, Key Agency and Parsley-Baldwin.
The purchasers of both properties are Will and Sarah Farish, island residents and owners of The Gasparilla Inn & Club, using the entity Sharp Plaza LLC. Both properties were formerly owned by Bayne Stevenson Enterprises, LLC.
“At this time we do not have a plan (for the properties),” said Farish representative and Gasparilla Inn General Manager Jon Reecher. “The intention was to secure the properties so a larger entity did not purchase the buildings and change the landscape of downtown Boca Grande.”
The first year the Railroad Plaza building was on the tax rolls was 1985. That year in April, Sunset Realty, Inc. sold the building to Railroad Plaza, Inc. for $100. In December of 1986 an “Arm’s Length Real Property Transfer” (excluded from sales ratio analysis) took place, and in June of 1997 Sunset Realty sold the buiding to Bayne Stevenson Enterprises for $740,000.
The 2021 TRIM notice value for the property was listed at just under $2 million.
The Fugate’s building, located at 428 4th St. W., was first on the tax rolls in 1936. However, the property is listed as far back as the Lee County Property Appraiser can record, which is 1900.
Jerome Fugate sold the property to W.S. Partnership in September of 1992 (the Weiner Trust and Ernest and Carol Sears) for $575,000. In June of 2008, Stevenson’s LLC purchased the building for $2.2 million.
The 2021 TRIM notice for the property shows a market value of $1.98 million.
Bayne Stevenson Enterprises, LLC also owns the Depot Building.
The sale of the Gulf Coast International Properties building, located at the corner of Park Avenue and 4th Street, between Boca Grande Partners, Inc. and Gasparilla Inn, Inc., was finalized in January of this year. It was listed at $4.5 million. At the time of the sale, Reecher said that the building will eventually be used for office space for The Inn, but the current renters have priority.
When speaking of the Fugate’s building and the Railroad Plaza property, Reecher said, “Maintaining the historical character of the island is of the highest priority of the Farish’s, as it was to Mrs. Farish’s father, Bayard Sharp. Mr. and Mrs. Farish have both the resources and the prior experience to maintain and, over time, improve these buildings as necessary.”
