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CS Ventures buys office, retail buildings in Palm Beach for $18M
Purchase follows hedge funder Ken Griffin’s investments on island
CS Ventures bought a pair of office and retail buildings in Palm Beach for $18.3 million, marking the firm’s continued investment in the area.
The Palm Beach-based company, a partnership between Charles Rosenberg of a New York-based family investment office and Spencer Schlager, bought the adjacent two-story properties at 375 South County Road from an affiliate of Colorado-based investor Mark Hunt, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. CS Ventures took out a $10 million loan for the properties from Vista Bank.
Completed in 1984, the buildings span a combined 16,700 square feet of office, retail and restaurant space across a half-acre lot, records and Vizzda show.
Hunt bought the properties for $16.2 million in 2021, as part of a $58 million portfolio purchase of office, retail and restaurant buildings in Palm Beach from the late Palm Beach commercial real estate landlord, Burton Handelsman.
CS plans “significant capital improvement” of the buildings, Schlager said, declining to say how much the firm plans to invest. Roughly half of the buildings are leased.
New American restaurant BrickTop’s leases the restaurant space. Other tenants include Brintz Gallery, 375 Gallery and Luxe Jewels.
Founded in 2018, CS has steadily expanded its portfolio, mostly focusing on the island but also on West Palm Beach.
Last year, it paid $35 million for office buildings at 340 and 350 Royal Palm Way in Palm Beach, and $35.9 million for the 10-story Clearlake Plaza office building at 500 South Australian Avenue in West Palm Beach.
CS’ other holdings include offices at 324 and 440 Royal Palm Way in Palm Beach, purchased for a combined $57.3 million in 2021, according to records. Also in the town, CS paid nearly $9 million in 2020 for the office-retail building at 214 Brazilian Avenue and $4.4 million for the mixed-use property at 249 Royal Poinciana Way.
Prior to partnering to form CS, Schlager worked in acquisitions for New York-based The Praedium Group, his LinkedIn shows. Rosenberg is of Rosemark Management, an investment manager and purchaser on behalf of the Arthur G. Cohen Family Office.
Palm Beach, a ritzy enclave that is home to Mar-a-Lago, has a small commercial real estate sector that has caught the eye of billionaire Ken Griffin.
Griffin, who leads Citadel hedge fund, dropped $83 million this month for the nearly 50,000-square-foot office building at 125 Worth Avenue. Griffin, who moved his Citadel and Citadel Securities’ headquarters to Miami’s Brickell from Chicago, also owns the building at 151 Worth Avenue, which is next to the 125 Worth Avenue building.