Lauderdale Marketplace fetches $5M below ask with $27M sale

A little less than a year after it was listed for sale at $32 million, the sprawling Lauderdale Marketplace shopping center in Lauderdale Lakes has been sold to an investor for $27 million.

The 1980s-era shopping center was sold by commercial investors Austin Forman and William Murphy, according to an announcement from listing brokerage Berger Commercial Realty. The two paid a mere $3.9 million to buy the complex off of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. in 1997.

Located at 2900-3784 North State Road 7, the center is 87 percent leased with tenants including Broward Health, YouFit Health Club, Davita Dialysis, Papa John’s, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Veteran Affairs, and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

After nearly two decades of ownership, Forman and Murphy put the 266,000-square-foot marketplace up for sale with Berger Commercial Realty’s Lloyd Berger and Joe Byrnes in July 2015 for $32 million. At that price, the two would rake in $120 per square foot — nearly 10 times what they originally paid.

Now, though the closing price is $5 million under what they hoped, the sale breaks down to roughly $105 per square foot.

The buyer is Meir Benzaken, a South Florida commercial real estate investor. Berger will stay on to handle management and leasing of the property.

“Joe and I have represented Lauderdale Marketplace since the late 1990s,” Berger said in a statement. “The property is located at the center of the densest population in Broward County and receives some of the highest traffic counts in the region. EMPI plans to capitalize on the property’s credit tenants and enhance the property over the coming months. This is a great long term opportunity for EMPI.” — Sean Stewart-Muniz