Publix pays $13M for building on Miami Beach’s Alton Road

Publix has continued its real estate shopping spree into the new year.

The grocer giant recently paid $12.85 million for a property on Miami Beach’s booming Alton Road.

As first reported by the South Florida Business Journal, county records show the grocery chain bought the 13,694-square-foot Walgreens at 1845 Alton Road in a deal that closed last week. Walgreens still has 13 years left on its double-net lease and is paying a “fraction of current market rate rent,” according to a LoopNet listing for the property.

It’s directly next to Publix’s 23,520-square-foot store at 1045 Dade Boulevard, which enjoys visibility on Alton Road and Dade Boulevard, both high-traffic streets.

The seller was a company called Windsor Investments, managed by Roland Digasbarro — the same managing member of the company that sold David Beckham land in Overtown for his soccer stadium last month.

Windsor paid $3.3 million, or about $240 per square foot, for the Alton Road Walgreens in 2010, according to county records. Now, the company has traded its property for $938 per foot — nearly triple the price it originally paid.

Publix went on a veritable real estate buying spree last year as part of its announced $1.3 billion campaign to invest in properties, build new stores and upgrade their technology.

The company bought a slew of shopping centers anchored by its stores, including a $53 million retail strip in Wellington formerly owned by the Federal Realty Investment Trust, co-owners of Miami’s CocoWalk and Sunset Place retail centers.