Last piece of the pie: Franco & Vinny’s Pizza Shack owners sell Fort Lauderdale Beach assemblage for $7M

All the pieces of the pie came together for the owners of Franco & Vinny’s Pizza Shack.

The pizzeria owners, Vinny and Caterina Esposito, sold their assemblage for $7.2 million and plan to close the Fort Lauderdale Beach restaurant next month. It’s a deal that has been in the works for close to three years, according to the brokers involved.

Marcus & Millichap’s Edward Romo and Scott Sandelin brokered the off-market sale of 2828 to 2908 East Sunrise Boulevard to Flying Point managing principals Sam Genet and Zach Sohn, and Victor Ballestas of Integra Investments. Ballestas could not immediately be reached for comment.

Marcus & Millichap’s Edward Romo and Scott Sandelin

Franco & Vinny’s owner Vinny Esposito told the Sun Sentinel that the restaurant will close in April after a 50-year run.

Romo told The Real Deal that the eatery, which opened in 1971, would serve pizza over the years to spring breakers through a window.

The 1.26-acre Fort Lauderdale assemblage includes 14,546 square feet of retail space. The buyers plan to keep the property as is for the short term, Romo and Sandelin said. The property’s zoning allows for retail, hotel and condos.

Property records show Esposito Enterprises paid at least $679,000 for the properties between 1964 and 1997. They’re located on the south side of Sunrise Boulevard, blocks away from the beach and near the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park.

Romo said the deal could result in more investment farther north of the action on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Nearby, developer Harvey Hernandez sold the Gale Hotel at 2900 Riomar Street on Fort Lauderdale Beach late last year to Banyan Investment Group for nearly $23 million.

In 2018, Elbo Room bar owner Aiton “AJ” Yaari banded together with other property owners to sell a 4.5-acre assemblage that extended from the Elbo Room north to Poinsettia Street and west from A1A to Seabreeze Boulevard on Fort Lauderdale Beach.