Beverly Hills firm forays into Florida with Boca Raton office and retail complex purchase

A Beverly Hills real estate firm plunged into Boca Raton’s office and retail market with a $12.6 million acquisition.

Brickstar Capital bought Spanish River Plaza at 500 Northeast Spanish River Boulevard, according to a press release. The deal equates to $226 per square foot for the 56,034-square-foot, mixed-use complex with office and retail. That’s a bargain in Boca Raton, where the average sale price per square foot is $300 and upwards for office and retail spaces, according to Colliers.

Mark M. Rubin and Bastian Laggerbauer with Colliers represented the seller, an entity managed by Glenn Edwards, founder and chairman of New York-based real estate investment firm Chart Organization.

Edwards’ entity paid $8.1 million for the two-building plaza in 2015, according to records. The buildings were completed in 1974.

Sitting on 4.5 acres, Spanish River Plaza is 14 percent vacant, Rubin said. Tenants include a Colliers branch office, Ascend Properties, IntensityX3 Fitness & Kickboxing, Mane Coffee and Dunetz Wellness Center.

In a statement, Rubin said mixed-use investors like Brickstar Capital are attracted to Boca Raton due to the city’s growing affluent population, as well as South Florida’s “accelerated pandemic recovery.”

In 2021, office sales volume in Boca Raton reached a record $926.5 million, according to Colliers. The average sale price for office space is currently $300 per square foot and more than $330 per square foot for retail space. Investors are bullish because the average office rent increased 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter, year over year, and the average retail rental rate increased 10.2 percent, Colliers states.

Boca Raton is also home to the largest South Florida office deal of 2021. Last year, New York-based DRA Advisors paid a record $320.2 million for the 1.7 million-square-foot Boca Raton Innovation Campus.

Laggerbauer said Brickstar Capital has acquired similar mixed-use properties and has a repositioning strategy for Spanish River Plaza that includes renovations to the complex.

The Spanish River Plaza purchase is Brickstar Capital’s first foray into Florida. The private investment company primarily focused on “service-oriented retail centers and creative office [buildings]” in Southern California and Nevada, according to the firm’s website. Brickstar Capital’s real estate investments have ranged from $2.5 million to $100 million.