Main Plaza has anchored one end of Sarasota’s downtown for the past three decades, always teeming with potential but often mired by a lack of cohesion and vision. Mostly, in the two decades since Regal Cinemas debuted its Hollywood 20 cineplex at the 1991 Main St. site, Main Plaza has largely languished. Case in point: Though two of the three partners comprising new owner BBC Main Street have lived in…
Read MoreMain Plaza/Hollywood 20 sells for $18.1 million
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 an aim of reviving the aging office and retail center. The group, comprising of entrepreneurs Jesse Biter, Eric Baird and David Chessler, say they have no set plans for the property. The deal closed Thursday. The 8.6-acre site, anchored by Regal Cinema’s Hollywood 20 theater, a…
Read MoreMountain men
Executive: Evan Berlin, founder of Berlin-Patten, a law firm with offices in Sarasota, Venice and Lakewood Ranch; Jesse Biter, co-founder of Dealers United, a Sarasota-based auto industry buying group; and Jamie Ebling, a partner with Berlin-Patten. Diversion: Berlin, Biter and Ebling, close friends for 10 years, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in September. Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, Africa, is the highest freestanding mountain in the world, at 19,341 feet above sea level…
Read MoreTwo Sarasota entrepreneurs buy, developing Palm Garage retail
BUYER: Palm Avenue Holdings LLC, Sarasota SELLER: City of Sarasota PROPERTY: 1289 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota PRICE: $1.6 million PREVIOUS PRICE: $500,000, August 1990 LAW FIRM ON DEED: Berlin-Patten PLLC, Sarasota PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Palm Avenue Holdings LLC, an entity led by Jesse Biter, CEO of Biter Enterprises LLC, has closed on nearly 11,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor of the Palm Avenue Garage for $1.6 million.…
Read MoreEntrepreneurs unite to bring leverage to an industry
Sarasota entrepreneur Jesse Biter, who sold a $16 million auto sales software business last year, didn’t sit on the sidelines for long. Indeed, Biter is back — in a big way. Biter and local auto dealership executive Matt Buchanan, son of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, launched a new business, Dealers United. The plan is to build a nationwide network of dealers that will have combined buying power with…
Read MoreSarasota entrepreneur buys Century building
BUYER: Biter Idea Vault LLC (Jesse M. Biter Revocable Trust), Sarasota SELLER: Century Bank FSB PROPERTY: 1680, 1700 and 1711 Fruitville Road, Sarasota PRICE: $2.8 million PREVIOUS PRICE: $2.55 million and $150,000, August 1993 and $172,000, October 1995 FILING FIRM ON DEED: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Dallas PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Sarasota businessman Jesse Biter purchased the 41,617-square-foot former Century Bank building on Fruitville Road for $2.8 million. The price equated to…
Read MoreA Big Net
A mid-level manager for AutoTrader asked entrepreneur Jesse Biter a simple question about his future business plans one day while the duo chatted in an Atlanta office building. At the time, Biter’s company, Sarasota-based HomeNet Automotive, did a small amount of work for AutoTrader, a global leader in Internet car sales. HomeNet sells and installs proprietary inventory software for the auto industry. But Biter had grandiose, not simple, plans. He…
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