ORLANDO-The Florida Department of Transportation has bought a 1,904-square-foot retail property in Altamonte Springs. The DOT purchased the property in order to demolish it and widen Interstate 4. The government body will tear down the building, purchased for $975,000, within six to 12 months.

Colliers International Central Florida director Cynthia Shelton represented the seller, the Rosenthal Group, in the transaction. Shelton had listed the property prior to the DOT’s offer and closed at the asking price. Shelton tells GlobeSt.com the price was in line with market value for visible corner locations and small parcels.

“It seems like there's a lot of DOT interest in some markets but no funds for actual construction,” Shelton tells GlobeSt.com. “Several areas along 17/92 and 436 are working on fly-overs and redoing roads, but projects keep getting delayed due to funding.”

According to Shelton, there were some unique challenges to working out this deal, which took almost a year. For example, the DOT originally wanted to purchase only a sliver of the land to expand the I-4 ramp at Exit 45B.

“We found that doing that would have had detrimental effects on the building’s accessibility that would have hurt both the landlord and the tenant, Uptech Computers,” Shelton says. “Selling the entire property was the best option for the client, so we worked to make that happen.”

There was another challenge in the deal in the form of a lease renewal. Uptech’s lease expired in April 2011. At that time, the seller was in talks with the DOT but no one was sure how quickly the department would be able to close. Colliers didn’t want to run the risk of the building remaining empty for longer than necessary. In the end, Shelton brokered a deal that allows Uptech to stay in the location until April 2012.

“This deal will not impact the area's retail scene,” Shelton explains. “There's enough newer space up there, and this older 1,900-square-foot property isn't really big enough to make an difference to the retail scene in that area.”