Copart beefed up its South Florida portfolio, paying $65 million for a Palm Beach County auto yard where the company stores and sells used vehicles.
An affiliate of Copart, a publicly traded firm based in Dallas that specializes in reselling repossessed and salvaged cars and trucks, acquired a 40.3-acre industrial site at 7876 West Belvedere Boulevard and 801 Pike Road near West Palm Beach, records and real estate database Vizzda show.
Copart, led by CEO Jeff Liaw, was leasing the property from the seller, Orlando-based forklift dealership Jamco, which acquired the site in 1968, records show. In 1971, Jamco developed a 4,926-square-foot building on the property in 1971. Two more buildings totaling 3,806 square feet were completed in 2000.
Copart uses the site to store automobiles and hold public vehicle auctions, the firm’s website states. Founded in 1982, Copart operates 250 facilities in 11 countries, including three other auto yards in Miami-Dade County, a press release states. In 2020, Copart paid $34.7 million for 117 acres of land at the Homestead Park of Commerce in southwest Miami-Dade County.
The company typically sells inoperable vehicles on behalf of insurance companies, banks, charities, fleet operators, dealers, rental car companies and individuals. In 2021, Copart’s billionaire executive chairman, Jay Adair, and his wife, Tammi Adair, plunked down $15.5 million for a teardown mansion along Fort Lauderdale’s waterfront.
Auto dealers are expanding across South Florida. In March, Alpharetta, Georgia-based Krause Automotive Group entered the market by acquiring two Nissan dealerships in Greenacres and Riviera Beach for a combined $30.5 million.
In Pompano Beach, Champion Porsche landed a $52 million construction loan in February to build a new two-story showroom and four-story garage. The same month, Craig Zinn Automotive Group paid $14.5 million for a commercial building near two of the company’s existing Toyota dealerships in Hollywood. The Hollywood-based car dealer bought the property from Hope Church of Christ.