Benderson buys shuttered Toys “R” Us store in Palm Beach Gardens

Benderson Development Company just bought a former Toys “R” Us store in Palm Beach Gardens, as the bankrupt retailer continues to sell off its entire real estate portfolio.

Property records show Benderson Development paid $6.5 million for a 36,890-square-foot building at 3195 PGA Boulevard. The deal gives Benderson control of more than 4 acres of land along PGA Boulevard, just south of the Gardens Mall.

Toys “R” Us paid $3 million for the property in 1992, the same year the building was built, records show.

University Park, Florida-based Benderson Development owns and manages more than 700 commercial properties in 38 states, according to its website. Earlier this year, it made one of the highest offers for a Toys “R” Us store when it outbid Federal Realty with a $15.6 million offer to acquire a store in Emeryville, California. It has since leased the space to the French sporting goods retailer, Decathlon Group, according to its website.

The firm has also picked up a former Toys “R” Us store in North Miami Beach for $1.5 million and another in Amherst, New York, for $110,000.

Toys “R” Us joins a list of big-box merchants that have filed for bankruptcy and announced they will shutter all of their stores, including Sports Authority and Gander Mountain. Other retailers that have filed for bankruptcy include Sears, HH Gregg, Claire’s Stores and more recently, Mattress Firm.