Brown expands Siesta properties list

Pass go and advance to Boardwalk: Chris Brown and business partner, Mike Granthon, are expanding their empire on Siesta Key.

Brown said that he had approached the previous owners of the property, Whiting Holdings and Joseph Golomb, several years ago about buying the property. At the time, they weren’t interested, he said.
They changed their minds recently, and earlier this month Brown and Granthon purchased the two parcels of property that make up the Siesta Market center for a combined total of about $2.8 million; the deeds were filed Oct. 30 and Nov. 3. The property also holds Meaney’s Mini Donuts, The Sea Shanty and Siesta Key Hardware.

“It’s rare for an acre of land to be available in the Village,” Brown said.

Golomb said the property has been in his family since the early 1950s. The part-time resident from Ohio said he decided to sell the property after he retired.

Jim Hillier, who co-owns Siesta Key Hardware with his wife, Patricia, said he was relieved when he found out Brown was his new landlord.

“I was glad it wasn’t a big corporation; it was someone right across the street,” Hillier said. “It was great news.”

In the past, he and his wife have been hesitant to invest too much into updating the property because they weren’t sure who their future landlord would be. Now, Hillier said he’d like to paint it and preserve the feel of the property.

“Now that there is a future, we want to preserve the feeling of a charming, small-town hardware store. People love that,” he said. “We care; that’s part of the character.”

Brown said he had no big initial plans for the Market property — he wants to preserve the area, and saw a need for the current services offered there.

“We’re not developers — we don’t need any more condos,” Brown said.

It’s always been a market as long as he can remember, Brown said.

“I can’t see it as anything else,” he said.

He and Granthon do plan to update and improve the property as a whole.

“We want to clean it up and be proud of the facilities,” Brown said.

He’d like to make sure all the buildings are up to date in code compliance and see if there is an opportunity to increase parking.

With the Market center acquisition, Brown and his partner own almost all the properties located at the intersection of Ocean Boulevard, Canal Road and Avenida Messina. The properties hold Siesta businesses: Blu Que Island Grill, The Cottage on the Key, Hub Baja Grill, The Beach Club on Siesta Key and the businesses in the Market center complex.

“We do love the Key,” Brown said. “There’s something about that island.”

Fit to buy
Chris Brown also has a strong foothold in downtown Sarasota. He purchased the property that now houses Fit2Run, and the property adjacent at 1410 Main St., which formerly housed Tropical Thai, in May 2013. The purchase price for the 1410 Main building was $1.4 million.

Brown said he is still conceptualizing what kind of business he wants in that space but knows he wants it to be a restaurant; he has thought about everything from a high-end dining spot to a sports pub.

Brown wants the property to go hand-in-hand with his other recent acquisition, the Smokin’ Joes property a few doors down, which he purchased Nov. 3. He said he was excited to work with the owner and staff of the bar.

“They’ve created something special,” Brown said. “The possibilities are endless.”

He’s not interested in a national chain, and he’s not concerned about any competition with the Mall at University Town Center.

“Downtown is growing,” Brown said. “People come to Main Street for Main Street.”

The Village 
Chris Brown's Properties