A Russian ex-police general dropped $23 million for a Pembroke Pines strip mall. Anatoly Petukhov retired from the Russian force in 2001, and has been active in commercial real estate since 2010.
An entity managed by Petukhov bought the two-building retail property at 304 Southwest 145th Avenue, records show. The deal breaks down to $689 per square foot for the 33,400-square-foot mall.
The seller, an affiliate of Hart Lyman, a commercial real estate firm based in East Syracuse, New York, paid $7.9 million for the land in 2014, and completed the mall three years later, records show.
The property’s tenant roster includes Xfinity, the Habit Burger Grill, Pieology Pizzeria, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, European Wax Center, and AT&T. Hart Lyman still owns a restaurant leased to Twin Peaks that is also on the 4-acre site.
Since immigrating to Sunny Isles Beach, Petukhov has amassed a South Florida real estate portfolio worth about $40 million. The Miami Herald uncovered a sealed lawsuit originally filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court that alleged Petukhov obtained the funds by shaking down local businessmen for police protection in Russia.
He was the chief deputy of a Russian elite law enforcement unit that investigated organized crime. The task force was reportedly so corrupt it was reorganized and shut down after Petukhov retired.
The Herald obtained a copy of a sealed 2013 civil lawsuit against Petukhov entities and his wife, Yulia Petukhova. It alleged the ex-general extorted tens of millions of dollars from the owners of a department store chain in Moscow when he was a high ranking police official. The suit claimed that Petukhov used portions of his allegedly illicit gains to pay a combined $37.5 million for eight South Florida properties, including a Fort Lauderdale strip mall and three office buildings in Miami-Dade and Broward. The lawsuit was privately settled, allegations were withdrawn, and it was sealed from public record in 2014.
A representative for Petukhov told The Real Deal that the claims in the lawsuit were false, and were part of a campaign against him orchestrated by members of Russian organized crime.
Last year, a Petukhov affiliate sold a waterfront five-bedroom home in Miami Beach’s Hibiscus Island for $8.3 million, records show. The Russian real estate investor still owns another Hibiscus Island waterfront property, 350 South Hibiscus Drive, that he bought for $7 million in 2015. In 2019, Petukhov completed an eight-bedroom, 10-bathroom modern mansion on the site. He listed it for $17 million in 2017 while the home was under construction, and again for the same price in 2019 when it was finished. Both listings were taken down, according to Zillow.
It’s been a quiet start in 2023 for big retail trades in South Florida. This month, Los Angeles-based Randall Realty Group paid $15 million for an office and retail building in Palm Beach.
Update: This article has been updated to include a statement from Petukhov’s counsel, and to clarify the timing of Petukhov’s involvement in the police force.