VERO BEACH — In the coming months, a couple of long empty storefronts on the island will become home to two national brands, thanks to deals brokered by Terry Torres of SLC Commercial Bird Realty Group.
Torres has secured long-term leases to bring an Ace Hardware store to the old Hale Groves store on 915 Beachland Boulevard, and in a separate deal, he has landed a commitment from Fidelity Investments to open an office in the old Watermark building on the corner of Beachland and Cardinal Drive.
The Ace Hardware will be a sister store to an Ace Hardware on Oslo Road.
“We don’t have anything even close to that on the barrier island, where someone can go and pick up anything from a chainsaw or a bolt that they need, especially on short notice,” said Torres.
Even though 4,000 square feet might not be a lot for a hardware store, Torres said the beachside Ace will have the advantage of having full access to Oslo Road store which features over 20,000 square feet of hardware, as well as home and garden furnishings.
“While the barrier island store may be a small footprint for a hardware store, the great thing is if you were to go there and they didn’t have what you were looking for they could get it from the Oslo store,” Torres said.
“What you will have is the convenience of picking it up on the beach the next day or even on the same day.”
Work is currently underway on the old citrus store and Torres said he expects it will be open in the next 90 days.
Workers are also starting on improvements for the new Fidelity Investments property, which formerly housed a real estate office.
Torres said plans call for the 4,000 square foot office space to undergo complete renovations.
“Fidelity is going to put their own stamp on it,” Torres said. “Fidelity has a certain standard signature they want in all their wealth management locations for higher income clients,” he said.
Torres said it should take about four months to complete work on the building.