Emerald Empire bought a shopping center near Boca Raton for $25 million.
Emerald Empire, through an affiliate, bought The Shops at Boca Grove at 21077 Powerline Road in unincorporated Palm Beach County from an entity tied to Isram Realty Group, according to records. The buyer signed a ground lease with a limited liability company that is also tied to Emerald Empire.
The property, built in 1984 and 2009, spans 6.3 acres, records show. Isram Realty paid $10 million for the 77,000-square-foot plaza in 2011.
Tenants include Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings, Silvia Gerov Real Estate and French Bakery Tulipe Cafe.
Isram Realty, based in Hallandale Beach, is a privately held real estate company that has amassed a portfolio of 2.5 million square feet of anchored retail centers in Florida and more than 1,300 multifamily units in Florida and New York City, according to the firm’s website. Isram is led by founder and Chairman Shaul Rikman, Executive Co-Chair and Partner Roni Soffer, and President Matthew Rikman.
Last year, a partnership between Isram Realty and American Land Ventures scored an $84.9 million construction loan for a 10-story, 319-unit apartment project at 630 East Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach.
Emerald Empire, based in Chestnut Ridge, New York, is a real estate investor with a portfolio of 5,000 multifamily units and more than 1 million square feet of industrial and office buildings in Indiana, Illinois, Georgia and Connecticut, according to its website. Moshe Wechsler is the company’s principal.
The South Florida retail market has been on the rebound since the slump that followed the onset of the pandemic.
In the first quarter, Palm Beach County retail vacancies dropped to 4.3 percent, marking the lowest rate since the same time period of 2019, according to a Colliers report. Asking rents rose to $27.26 per square foot, from $23.69 in the first quarter of last year.
Barlington Group, which has hefty investments along Miami’s Calle Ocho and elsewhere, made its Palm Beach County debut in April, scooping up The Market Place shopping plaza at 7440 Lake Worth Road near Wellington for $14.4 million.
Also in April, investor Todd Nepola bought the Shoppes of Lake Worth at 6651 Lake Worth Road and Coco Plum Plaza at 2845 North Military Trail, both in West Palm Beach, for a combined $12.7 million.