A pair of publicly traded real estate investment companies teamed up to acquire five Publix-anchored retail centers in South Florida and one in Georgia in a nearly $426 million deal.
Jericho, New York-based Kimco Realty and its new joint venture partner Blackstone paid $425.8 million to acquire 70 percent interest in the six-property portfolio from Jamestown, a privately-held real estate firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, according to a press release.
Kimco, led by CEO Connor Flynn, owned 30 percent of the portfolio in a previous joint venture with Jamestown through the company’s recently completed merger with Weingarten Realty.
Under the new ownership, Kimco and Blackstone each own a 50 percent stake in the six shopping centers. Kimco will continue to manage the portfolio on behalf of the joint venture, the press release states.
The South Florida properties are Pembroke Commons at 600 North University Drive and Flamingo Pines Shopping Center at 12550 Pines Boulevard in Pembroke Pines; Hollywood Hills Plaza I and II at 3251 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood; Northridge Shopping Center at 1003 East Commercial Boulevard in Oakland Park; and Tamiami Trail Shops at 13850 Southwest Eighth Street in Miami.
In Atlanta, it acquired Publix at Princeton Lakes, at 3730 Carmia Drive Southwest.
The entire portfolio spans 1.2 million square feet.
The previous ownership purchased Tamiami Trail Shops for $17.2 million, Pembroke Commons for $42.1 million and Northridge ShoppingCenter for $36.5 million in 2009, according to records. A year later, it paid $31.7 million for Hollywood Hills Plaza I and II.
JLL marketed the portfolio. In a statement, JLL’s Danny Finkle said that population and employment growth, as well as corporate relocations are fueling commercial real estate fundamentals in South Florida.
The deal closed amid a sizzling market for outdoor retail shopping centers in the tri-county region. According to commercial brokers, retail properties anchored by grocers and discount retailers have performed extremely well throughout the pandemic.
Across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, retail vacancy rates have dropped to 5 percent or below as landlords have raised rents back to pre-pandemic levels, according to a third quarter Colliers report.
Recently, Allstate Investments sold a Dollar General-anchored office and retail center in West Palm Beach for $12.4 million to Atlanta-based Jordan Capital AM. In another Palm Beach County deal, JB Capital Management and Royce Properties acquired a Fresh Market-anchored shopping plaza in Jupiter for $25.5 million. In Miami-Dade, Horizon Properties of Miami paid $32.5 million for a Publix-anchored shopping center in Hialeah.