UPDATED, March 3, 10:40 a.m.
Weston-based commercial real estate investor Beth Azor sold a Broward County retail plaza for $13.9 million.
Harvest International Investments, managed by Guofeng Ma, Wenrui Ma and Wei Cheng in Miami, bought Sawgrass Home Design Center at 13001-13191 West Sunrise Boulevard in Sunrise, according to records.
Azor’s firm Azor Advisory Services represented the seller, and Lena Zubkova with Apogee Realty and Moshe Bito with Capital Group Realty represented Harvest, a press release states. The deal breaks down to $307 a square foot.
The 45,088-square-foot retail property was completed in 1994, records show. In 2011, an Azor affiliate paid $5.5 million for Sawgrass Home Design Center, which is adjacent to the Sawgrass Mills outlet mall.
Strong-performing retail centers are still commanding significant interest from commercial investors due to a lack of new projects, Azor said in a statement.
“There is virtually no new development and very little product available for sale,” Azor said. “So we decided to capitalize on the market.”
In 2021, her firm renovated Sawgrass Home Design Center, Azor said. The retail center is 83 percent leased, and the tenant roster includes DXL Casual Male, Bella Salon Suites, Lighting Outlet, Compass Research and Caremax.
Founded in 1993, Azor Advisory Services focuses on retail properties, and currently owns five shopping centers in Davie, Plantation and Sunrise, according to the firm’s website.
Last year, Azor sold Plantation Crossing, an Aldi-anchored shopping center in Plantation. Azora Exan, a joint venture between Madrid-based Azora and Miami-based Exan Capital, paid $22.2 million for the property.
While commercial trades have slowed across South Florida in the first two months of the year, retail sites are still garnering attention. Last month, Stiles Corporation sold a Publix-anchored shopping center in Miramar for $61.5 million. PGIM Real Estate, the real estate investment and financing arm of Prudential Financial, bought Monarch Town Center with a $33.5 million mortgage from Professional Bank.
Anatoly Petukhov, a Russian ex-police general who now invests in South Florida commercial real estate, picked up a Pembroke Pines strip mall for $23 million in January.