BB&T, the North Carolina-based national bank, closed today on a 40,000 square foot former gas station site in Margate, FL.
The purchase price was $1,390,000 or $34.50 per square foot.
The site, located at 5700 Coconut Creek Parkway at the intersection of Coconut Creek Parkway and State Road 7, will be the location of a new 2,300 square foot, free standing retail bank branch.
Reese Stigliano, Senior Vice President and Gordon Lunt of Brenner Real Estate Group, represented the seller of the property.
“Gordon and I have been working with the Seller for many years on this site,” according to Stigliano.
The site was a former gas station that required environmental remediation, which took over 18 months to complete. The site also required a variance from the city of Margate and a Plat note amendment from Broward County. Stigliano coordinated the governmental approvals on the owner’s behalf. The transaction with BB&T took nearly a year from the day the contract was signed until closing.
Stigliano, a recognized leader on South Florida land sales said, “With the scarcity of vacant land in South Florida, land sales have become more difficult and complex. There is no such thing as a quick land sale. Cities, in their effort to control growth, are placing layers of additional requirements, overlay zoning districts and creating Community Redevelopment Areas (CRA’s) that are making the development process very cumbersome and sometimes frustrating. To compound the problem, prices for vacant land are rising rapidly.”
Although the underlying price of land for bank branches has escalated to new heights, the sale price for retail bank branches that are leased on a long term basis to national banks has reached staggering prices. A new, freestanding bank branch in Pompano Beach, FL leased to BankUnited, recently sold for over $1,500 per square foot, making Stigliano’s land sale to BB&T at $34.50 per square foot, a bargain.
