IMC Equity pays $45M for Margate shopping center

IMC Equity Group just added yet another South Florida retail plaza to its commercial portfolio.

The North Miami investment firm just closed on a $45.5 million deal to purchase a 250,000-square-foot shopping center in Margate called Peppertree Plaza, Carlos Segrera, chief investment officer at IMC, said. The trade breaks down to about $180 per square foot.

An affiliate of Woolbright Development sold the Peppertree Plaza, which sits on the southeast corner of US 441 and Sample Road. The retail center, built in 1989, previously sold for $39.25 million in 2014.

IMC acquired the property at 92 percent leased to Winn-Dixie, Sam Ash Music, Office Depot, Dollar Tree and Planet Fitness. Segrera said IMC financed the deal with a $31 million loan from LoanCore, a commercial mortgage backed security and conduit lender.

CBRE’s Casey Rosen and Dennis Carson represented the seller and Todd Snyder and Melvin Miller of Gene Snyder Corp. represented IMC. The deal was part of a 1031 exchange, Segrera said.

Over the past year, IMC has spent about $200 million acquiring Florida commercial real estate, Segrera said. In May, it bought the 37-acre Festival Flea Market in Pompano Beach for $25 million and paid an additional $31 million for the business.

IMC was founded in 2002 by investor Yoram Izhak. In Florida, it owns $1.4 billion in commercial real estate, according to its website. Last year, the firm bought a portion of Rockefeller Group’s and Kimco Realty’s mixed-use Miramar Town Center for nearly $25 million.