Ferran's Building Owners Reject $500,000 Bid

At a four-hour event, Higginbotham Auctioneers of Lakeland, FL were unable to get potential buyers to go over a $500,000 bid Thursday for the vacant, 76-year-old, 12,718-sf former Ferran's Department Store building on Downtown Magnolia Street. Co-owners Mike and Becky Alberson and Bill and Beth Compton rejected the bid which equates to $39.31 per sf.

GlobeSt.com couldn't reach the owners to learn whether the 300-seat property will be re-listed with a broker or scheduled for another auction at a later date. The owners initially were asking $950,000 or $74.70 per sf prior to giving Higginbotham a chance to sell the two-story, rustic brick building.

Speculative reports had hinted the property might go for $1 million or a replacement cost of about $79 per sf, as GlobeSt.com reported March 6. Construction industry estimators at the time told GlobeSt.com the building would probably bring $635,000 or the equivalent hard construction cost of $50 per sf.

At the same time, construction estimators tell GlobeSt.com the structure couldn't be built today for less than $100 per sf or about $1.27 million. The property has been vacant since April 2001 when restaurateurs Gary and Tracy Webster called it quits because of low volume at Ferran's Moonlight Grill.

The Websters had leased the premises since January 2000. The Albersons and the Comptons had operated the restaurant under the same name from 1998 to December 1999. Eustis is 30 miles northwest of Downtown Orlando.