Fill ‘er up: RaceTrac buys Medley auto junkyard for $9M

RaceTrac closed on an auto junkyard in Medley, paying $8.9 million for the redevelopment site.

The 8.3-acre property at 8300 Northwest 74th Street will likely be converted into a filling station, convenience store and truck rest stop, according to Daniel Pou, leasing director for Horizon Properties of Miami.

Pou, along with Alex Sanchez of commercial real estate firm Indigo Properties, represented RaceTrac.

The seller is a trust on behalf of Juan, Julio, Victoria and Maria Pinera, records show. Their broker, Adrian Gonzalez of Miami Gables Realty, declined comment.

In 1998, The Pinera trust paid $2.1 million for the property. The junkyard, known as MOP Auto Parts, is near the Palmetto Expressway’s Northwest 74th Street exit and Miami International Airport.

“RaceTrac has been eyeing the Medley marketplace for about three years now,” Pou said. “I have a relationship with the family that sold [the property to RaceTrac]. It wasn’t listed, but I knew they had a number in mind.”

Pou said RaceTrac and the Pinera family had discussions over the course of the year, and that the Medley junkyard was under contract for 10 months. He added the uncertainty of the pandemic pushed the Pineras to the negotiating table. “They agreed to a deal they probably would never have agreed to if Covid hadn’t happened,” Pou said.

Sources familiar with the junkyard site said institutional buyers like Prologis had shown interest in the site, and that the Pinera family had fielded other offers throughout the years. Those deals fell through due to the high cost involved with removing contaminated ground soil from the property.

“Only a petroleum company like RaceTrac knows how to deal with the contamination,” Pou said. “That is another reason the sellers decided to go with a buyer like RaceTrac.”