New Jersey investor buys prime Clearwater office building
March 26, 2020 - Melrose Solomon Enterprises, a New Jersey firm, has bought Coastal Palms, a Class A office building at 28100 U.S. Highway 19 N. in Clearwater. Melrose Solomon paid $12.6 million for the property in a deal that closed March 19, according to a deed filed in Pinellas County. The building, at U.S. 19 and Republic Drive, has several financial services tenants, including TD Bank, Wells Fargo and Ameriprise, and had undergone extensive upgrades. The seller was Clearwater-based Coastal Palms Holdings, a company owned 50 percent by a local trust and 50 percent by a local real estate investor, John Gerlach. Gerlach separately is executive managing director at Colliers International, but Colliers was not involved in the deal. Little information was available about the buyer, Melrose Solomon, which is based in Tenafly, New Jersey but Gerlach said the buyer's intent is to hold the property for a long time and to continue to maintain the quality.