South Florida’s largest retail sales deals in June

With experts predicting a “retail apocalypse”, South Florida has remained a lone exception. In June, the top retail deals included three traditional shopping centers, a building in South Beach, and the sale of the Metro Mall building in downtown Miami’s jewelry district.

The June investment sales figures were compiled from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County property records.

Palms Plaza, Boca Raton – Crow Holdings | $30M

The largest retail sale last month belongs to Crow Holdings Capital Real Estate’s purchase of a shopping center at 22191 Powerline Road in Boca Raton for $30.2 million.

The Dallas-based asset manager paid about $360 per square foot for the roughly 85,000-square-foot shopping center known as the Palms Plaza. Crow Holdings is tied to the family of Dallas real estate developer Trammell Crow. North American Development Group, a Canadian commercial real estate developer, sold the property.

Palms Plaza was built in 1988 and last sold for $18.5 million in 2011. Tenants include Party City, Chase Bank and a standalone Olive Garden restaurant. The 9.4-acre property includes about 400 parking spaces.

Shoppes of Wilton Manors – Grass River Property and Downstream Realty Partners | $21M

Grass River Property and Downstream Realty Partners increased their investment in the Broward town of Wilton Manors. Property records show the partnership paid $21 million, or about $270 per square foot, for a 78,600-square-foot shopping center at 2200 and 2292 Wilton Drive.

The development group plans to renovate the property, securing a $22.8 million loan from Two Harbors Investment Corporation, a subsidiary of Pine River Capital, to finance the project. JLL’s Keith Kurland, Brett Rosenberg and Brandon Krupetsky arranged the financing.

Two companies tied to Rivercrest Realty Investors sold the Shoppes of Wilton Manors. Records show Rivercrest paid $16.6 million for the property in 2007.

Tenants include Sherwin Williams, The Alibi, Ocean Wine & Spirits and Tee Jay Thai Sushi.

Fogo de Chao building, Miami Beach – Baskir Capital Management | $15M

Baskir Capital Management paid $15.25 million for a retail building in Miami Beach’s South-of-Fifth neighborhood, leased to the Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao.

The New York-based private equity firm bought the building at 836 First Street from a partnership controlled by restaurateur Myles Chefetz, Lyle Stern, Nelson Fox and Durfee Day. The seller was represented by HFF’s Danny Finkel and Mark Mandel, in cooperation with Noah Fox of Koniver Stern Group.

The buyer was represented by Marcus & Millichap’s Scott Sandlin and Alex D’Alba. The 12,000-square-foot building hit the market two years ago for $19.5 million. The sellers paid $2.8 million for the building in 2005, records show, and renovated it in 2007.

The restaurant recently extended its lease and now has 10 years remaining. Fogo de Chao has operated there since 2008.

Baskir Capital Management, led by Turkish investor Cengiz Baskir, buys single-tenant type assets nationally. The firm has about $1 billion in assets under management, D’Alba said.

Metro Mall – Yair Levy | $14.5M

Levy’s Time Century Holdings paid $14.5 million for the Metro Mall building, a development site in the heart of downtown Miami’s jewelry district, at 1 Northeast First Street.

Levy plans to renovate the 225,000-square-foot building into a luxury jewelry center. The building, built in 1926, sits on a 33,750-square-foot corner lot that’s zoned for 810,000 square feet, 774 units and at least 80 stories of development. Levy acquired the building’s master lease and 84.2 percent of the land.

Colliers International South Florida’s Mika Mattingly, Gerard Yetming and Linn Ahsberg represented the seller, Metro Mall Limited, which was led by Stanley Goldberg, Judith Jaffe and Joyce Goldberg. Wedad Saad-Anderson of New Capital Realty represented the buyer.

Levy rose to real estate prominence through several high-profile residential condo conversions in Manhattan, but his real estate empire unraveled during the recession. In 2011, he was permanently banned by the New York state Attorney General’s office from selling condos and co-ops in the state, and has largely stayed under the radar since then.

Hialeah shopping center – Cervera Real Estate Ventures | $11M

Cervera Real Estate Ventures paid $11.3 million or $150 per square foot for a shopping center at 3800 West 12th Avenue in Hialeah, with plans to reposition and renovate the property.

The seller is an affiliate of Leon Medical Centers, which paid $11 million for the 74,350-square-foot building in 2015. The seller originally intended to convert the property into a medical center, Javier Cervera said.

The two-story retail plaza, built in 1984 on a 3-acre site, sold at about 85 percent leased.

Cervera’s company owns and manages a number of retail shopping centers, apartment buildings and warehouses throughout South Florida. He’s part of the Cervera family’s second generation, along with his sisters Alicia Cervera Lamadrid and Veronica Cervera Goeseke.