The recognizable Centerpointe building on West Bay has a new owner – one “brewing” with excitement over the purchase.

Steven Busch tells The Ticker the purchase was made as a family investment via West Bay Properties LLC. He is president of the LLC, and is a member of the Anheuser-Busch family of St. Louis. Busch has a family home in Traverse City.

Dave Mathia, who had owned the former Harleysville Lake States building and marina since 2007, had it listed for sale since 2010. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed; the building had been listed for $6.95 million.

Commenting on the sale, Mathia said, “We’re really pleased we were able to restore this building and have full occupancy for the last three years. We tried to be good to the community and to bring this landmark back to prominence, and I think we accomplished that. Now the new owner will take it to another level.”

The 64,000 square foot building sits on almost five acres near the corner of S. West Bayshore Drive and Cherry Bend and has features most office buildings don’t, including 62 private boat slips and a tunnel connecting it to the other side of S. West Bayshore. Centerpointe’s anchor tenant is Global Marine Insurance.

Busch says the building fit the family’s “investment profile.”

“We have some real estate holdings, and we really like properties that are unique or one-of-a-kind, and ones with very good financial returns,” he says. “Being on the lake, its awesome setting and having a marina – that really differentiates it. And, it’s fully leased.”

Busch had been keeping his sailboat in the Centerpointe marina for three years and came to know the building in the process.

He and his family have also developed an affinity with Traverse City, he adds.

“We really like Traverse City. My wife has been coming up for about thirty years, and I have for about ten. We love spending summers there.”

In his less than two weeks as its new owner, Busch has already put crews to work on the building’s grounds, adding new floating docks and making significant landscaping improvements.

“One of our hallmarks is that everything we’re involved with is a statement of excellence…cleanliness, attention to detail. You’ll see that [at Centerpointe]."

Dave Conrad of Bay Breeze Charters (located at Centerpointe) will serve as on-site property manager.