TAMPA - Interested in buying a prime restaurant location on the cheap?

At least seven Bennigan's or Steak & Ale locations, shuttered after the chain filed for bankruptcy, are on the market in the Tampa Bay area - four of which will be auctioned off as part of a nationwide sale next month. Some commercial real estate experts think some of the properties could sell for as little as 30 cents on the dollar.

The collapse of Bennigan's and bankruptcies by other once-popular restaurant chains, including Shells, Sam Seltzer's and Roadhouse Grill, have left some of the top restaurant spots in the Bay area sitting vacant.

But the owners of those sites - a mix of finance companies, nonprofit groups and developers - are trying to sell or lease them at a tough time for the industry, largely because consumers are eating out less as worries about a looming recession grow.

Restaurants have slowed their expansion in the Bay area and nationwide and investment in commercial real estate has slowed to a standstill. Anyone willing to invest in a vacant restaurant property may have to deal with it sitting empty for months or more, experts say.

"Right now there are not a lot of restaurant concepts that are in expansion mode," said Steven Ekovich, regional manager of Marcus & Millichap, which sells commercial real estate to investors. "Two years ago it would be a no-brainer."

The parent company of Bennigan's, S&A Restaurant Corp., filed for bankruptcy in July and shut down all of its corporate-owned Bennigan's and Steak & Ale restaurants nationwide, including 10 in the Tampa Bay area. About 1,000 employees were thrown out of work in the Bay area. The only Bennigan's still open is the restaurant at Channelside Bay Plaza in Tampa, which is owned by local restaurateur Mitch Walker.

At least one of the closed restaurants, at 2520 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, has been leased out to an independently owned Tijuana Iguana. However, the other Bennigan's and Steak & Ale locations are sitting vacant in the Bay area.

They are up for sale or lease in an increasingly tough market for retail properties in general, too. The vacancy rate for retail properties in the Bay area has risen to 8.5 percent from 6.5 percent in the past year, said Patrick Berman, a retail real estate broker with Cushman & Wakefield. That is a big increase, Berman said, and some people fear the vacancy rate could hit 10 percent, which would be a troubling sign.

Vacancies are driving down prices for retail real estate and causing real estate investors to demand higher returns, Berman said. Restaurant properties with great locations will still command high prices, Ekovich said. But, in a worst-case scenario in which a building might be vacant for a protracted period, investors may try to buy the properties for as little as 30 cents on the dollar, Ekovich said.

Nonetheless, NRC Realty Advisors, a Chicago-based real estate firm, is trying to sell more than 60 of the former Bennigan's and Steak & Ale restaurants around the country in a sealed bid sale. Bids are due Nov. 11.

NRC is considering selling the restaurants individually or in blocks, said Kevin Deany, a spokesman for NRC.

Walker, the owner of the Channelside Bennigan's, said he is hoping he can lease a few of the Bennigan's sites in the Bay area from whoever purchases them and reopen them under the Bennigan's name.

RESTAURANT SITES

For sale in November auction:

2206 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa

18001 Highwoods Preserve Parkway, Tampa

2640 Gulf to Bay Blvd., Clearwater

2210 W. Brandon Blvd., Brandon

Other sites for sale or lease:

2190 Tyrone Blvd. N., St. Petersburg (property owned by Sembler Co.)

9900 4th Street N., St. Petersburg (property owned by Community Foundation of Tampa Bay)

204 N. West Shore Blvd., Tampa (property owned by Glimcher Realty Trust)

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.