WHAT'S HAPPENING: Developer purchases Hollywood 20 complex, Siesta Key man arrested for drug trafficking

Developer purchases Hollywood 20 complex

A local investment group with ties to PGA golfer Greg Norman acquired the Main Plaza/Hollywood 20 complex in downtown Sarasota for $18.1 million, with the aim of reviving the aging office and retail center.

The entrepreneurs behind the group, Jesse Biter, Eric Baird and David Chessler, say they have no set plans for the property. The deal closed Nov. 12.

“That side of Main Street has really struggled,” Chessler said, in an interview with the Business Observer. “We want to do something special there. We want it to be magnificent for the community.”

Redeveloping Main Plaza could be a daunting task. In addition to a lack of surrounding new development, Main Plaza has lost tenants of late, and the 30-year-old complex is showing signs of age.

WHAT'S THE BUZZ

Here’s what readers on our Facebook had to say about the sale of the Main Plaza/Hollywood 20 complex to a local investment group with ties to PGA golfer Greg Norman.

"Certainly needs a makeover." Rob Silverstein

"I'm so excited to see what Jesse Brings. What a class act." Colleen Giles Bailiff

"Here comes Dave & Busters." Michael P. Goeller

"Jesse Biter! Keep challenging the old guard." Sean Murphy

“It is truly a shame that the county has deferred all strategic thinking on the possible locations of a (shelter) to Marbut, who is increasingly being discredited around the country and certainly here in Florida.”— City Manager Tom Barwin, responding to the county’s dismissal of the city’s offer to trade parcels to free up county land for a homeless shelter near I-75

BY THE NUMBERS

$300,000
Cost to add 10 beds to the SHIFTS homeless facility

$40 million, 
price paid by Paragon Realty Group paid for the Hollywood 20 complex in 2005

Siesta Key man arrested for drug trafficking

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has charged a Siesta Key man with drug trafficking after the U.S. Postal Service allegedly discovered 27 pounds of marijuana in a package last week.

Sarasota County deputies say they found another 33 pounds of marijuana, along with 0.3 grams of MDMA, 132 grams of butane hash oil, 1 gram of a prescription amphetamine, 11 grams of cocaine and $22,000 in cash at the Avenida Veneccia apartment of Conrado Salas Jr., 35, after obtaining a search warrant Friday. 

Salas faces multiple charges, including trafficking marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of cocaine with intent to sell and possession of butane hash oil with intent to sell. 

Sarasota County jail records show Salas remains in custody in lieu of $40,000 bond.

MEETINGS

DID Expansion Ad Hoc Committee meeting — 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, Commission Chambers, City Hall, 1565 First St., Sarasota