BRANDON — A prominent Brandon building is up for sale — the McKernon Group’s building at Park Village.
The Redstone Group is listing the headquarters of longtime Brandon builder Jack McKernon’s business for the first time this week, but Jan Smith, who is in charge of marketing for the company, said that the building is simply too big for the company’s needs now.
“We’ve got an awful lot of space here for the number of staff we have,” she said.
Smith said McKernon is not going out of business and has no plans to lay off staff or leave Brandon. Rather, she said, McKernon has had the building for sale before and routinely sells and buys his buildings.
“It’s nothing of any consequence,” she said of the building sale. “We’re not even close to going out of business. The joke around here is that everything is for sale.”
Smith said it’s possible that McKernon would lease his office space back on a smaller scale from whoever buys the building.
McKernon and business partner Kevin Birchmore founded the company in 1987 and incorporated in 1995. McKernon announced in 2010 that he would retire from day-to-day operations and that Birchmore was taking over as president. McKernon continues as chairman of the board of directors.
McKernon said that because they are a construction company, his staff will construct another building that will be even better suited for their needs.
“We are far from going out of business and determined to get some action at Park Village on the buildings,” he said.
Birchmore added that “the year ahead is looking much busier than 2010, and there are signs of positive change in the local economy.”
The Redstone listing describes the building as an “immaculately restored office building,” and it is. McKernon renovated the former carriage house and barn on the property of the former Brandon Training School back in 2003, transforming it from a dilapidated farm building to a beautiful set of offices.
The building measures almost 17,000 square feet and is zoned in the high-density multi-use district. There is no asking price listed for the property. McKernon also confirmed that his company has gotten together with Naylor and Breen, Conner Homes and other area construction firms and contracted with Hirchak Auctioneers to sell off their nonperforming assets at auction on Feb 23. The McKernon Group is also auctioning off two of the state buildings purchased a year ago, “with hopes of stimulating sales of real estate in an effort to bring business to Brandon and Park Village,” McKernon said.