DDR nabs $33.7M loan for retail center in Tamarac

DDR Corp., a publicly traded real estate investment trust, just took out a $33.75 million mortgage on a Tamarac shopping center called Midway Plaza, property records show.

DDR’s DDRM Midway Plaza LLC closed on the financing from Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp. Another one of its affiliates, DDRM Northlake Commons LLC, scored a $18.1 million mortgage on the Palm Beach Gardens shopping center Northlake Commons from the same bank, just last week.

Records show DDR bought the 5.5-acre Midway Plaza at 5881 North University Drive in 2003 for $28.4 million. According to records, that same year DDR bought Northlake Commons, for $24.3 million.

Midway Plaza tenants include Publix, T-Mobile, Ross and a Dollar Tree. The shopping center has 12 spaces available that range from 977 square feet to 4,6315 square feet, according to its website.

In light of the residential market’s slow down, Jimmy Tate of Tate Capital, who is redeveloping Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale, predicted a shift in favor of Broward’s commercial market at a panel hosted by The Real Deal in April.

Despite the nationwide retail slump, Fort Lauderdale and Miami were recently ranked as “top buy markets” for retail assets, according to a Ten-X Retail Market Outlook report released in May. Overall, vacancies in Fort Lauderdale fell to 8.9 percent last year, with rents averaging $17.86, while rents were forecasted to rise to $20.20 in 2020.