Inside the Quay in downtown Sarasota: A $27 million deal that came together quickly

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Edward Burr

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer

Reporter- Tampa Bay Business Journal

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A Jacksonville developer's plans to buy the Quay property in downtown Sarasota came together very quickly — so quickly that the group doesn't have a formal plan for the land yet.

Ed Burr, CEO of GreenPointe Holdings LLC, said Friday that the opportunity came up in November and required closing very quickly. GreenPointe had previously tried to buy the property from the Irish government, which owns the land after absorbing the lender that foreclosed on it.

The Quay is a 15-acre parcel on Sarasota Bay, west of U.S. 41, between the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota and Hyatt Regency Sarasota.

Sarasota has started to shed its image as a wealthy retirement haven. In October, a $315 million enclosed mall opened in Sarasota, and the city has a vibrant downtown and thriving cultural scene that's started to attract more Millennials. The Bay region's largest home sale of 2014, a $10 million mansion, was a Sarasota property.

"We rarely do urban, mixed-use deals," Burr said, calling downtown Sarasota "a great place to be."

GreenPointe's development arm, GreenPointe Communities, paid $27 million for the property.

Burr said it was too soon to say when vertical construction might start on the site, or what would be the first.

"We're a very patient, stable developer who's looking for the long-term," Burr said.

Burr is a prominent Jacksonville businessman, active in JaxChamber and a longtime advocate of that city's ongoing downtown revitalization efforts. He was leading plans for a large mixed-use project on downtown Jacksonville's riverfront in 2007, but those plans were halted when the real estate market crashed.

"We love the future of downtown Jacksonville," Burr said. "We'll look at doing other [mixed-use urban developments] but it is not something we'll do frequently. Only when the right opportunity presents itself."

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.