A fund managed by Zurich Alternative Asset Management purchased the Whole Foods-anchored retail portion of a building in Coral Gables, as demand for South Florida’s grocery-anchored shopping centers continues to be strong.
The Zurich-managed fund paid $46.75 million for the nearly 60,000-square-foot retail share of Plaza San Remo, The Real Deal has learned. Prudential Insurance Company of America sold the commercial condos at 6701 Red Road, property records show.
JLL’s Danny Finkle, Luis Castillo and Eric Williams represented the seller. In addition to Whole Foods, other tenants include Pediatric Associates and Oxxo Care Cleaners.
The price breaks down to $783 per square foot.
The seven-story mixed-use building was completed in 2007 and includes a parking garage and medical office space that was not part of the sale.
Sean Bannon, managing director of U.S. Real Estate for Zurich, said in a release that the property offers the fund’s international investors “an attractive yield, term and credit” and that Zurich will continue to invest in South Florida.
The property is across Red Road from the Shops at Sunset Place, which is expected to be redeveloped. Last year, the South Miami City Commission voted in favor of several ordinances that will allow a partnership between Federal Realty Investment Trust, Grass River Property and The Comras Company to transform the roughly half-a-million-square-foot shopping center into a mixed-use project featuring a reimagined mall, a pair of apartment buildings and a hotel.
In April, Publix Super Markets, which owns and operates a store near Whole Foods, paid $23 million for the site of a new store nearby that’s expected to replace its existing location.
Retail landlords with grocery stores as tenants are likely breathing a sigh of relief, since grocery stores have been allowed to stay open over the past couple of months during the pandemic.