Raanan Katz’s RK Centers picked up a Publix-anchored Plantation shopping center for $17 million, its third South Florida acquisition since September.
RK Centers, through affiliate RK Veranda, bought Veranda Shoppes from Regency Centers Corp. affiliate Equity One JV Sub Veranda, according to a deed.
Property records show the 47,678-square-foot shopping plaza at 500-560 North Pine Island Road was built in 2007 on 4.2 acres. Tenants include Dunkin’ Donuts, Banfield Pet Hospital, Pei Wei Asian Diner and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza.
Katz, a Miami Heat minority owner, started Needham, Massachusetts-based RK Centers in 1964. In recent years he has been on a shopping spree for South Florida retail real estate, even amid the pandemic.
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RK Centers in January bought a retail building leased to Best Buy for $11.5 million. The property is at 12301 West Sunrise Boulevard.
That deal came on the heels of RK Center’s $20.4 million purchase in September of another Best Buy-leased building at 10760 Northwest 17th Street in Sweetwater, near Dolphin Mall. An affiliate of Shoma Group sold the property.
In September 2019, Katz bought a Pembroke Pines shopping center at 11460 Pines Boulevard, in front of the Pembroke Lakes Mall, for $22.3 million.
He also bought two Publix-anchored shopping centers in April 2018 for $26.5 million: $15.6 million for Beachway Plaza in Dania Beach, and $11.25 million for Shoppes at Western Woods in North Lauderdale.
Katz started out investing in residential real estate soon after he came to the U.S. from Israel in the 1960s, and made the transition to retail in 1980 with the purchase of three retail centers in and near Boston, according to RK Centers’ website. In 1984, he made a play on Miami Beach where he bought a block of stores. RK Centers continues to focus on South Florida and New England, and has an office in Sunny Isles Beach.
Katz, who played for the Israeli National Basketball Team, in 1986 became an original partner in the Miami Heat expansion franchise. He has been a minority owner since then, according to RK Centers’ website.
Jacksonville-based Regency Centers is a real estate investment trust and one of the biggest operators of grocery-anchored retail, according to its website.
Other investors also have made retail plays in South Florida over the past year. Miami Beach parking lot owner Andrew Mirmelli in June sold Lauderhill shopping center Promenade at Inverrary for $12.75 million. More recently, Weston-based Titan General Partners bought a four-building, mixed-use office and retail portfolio along Powerline Road west of Boca Raton for $155 million in one of the area’s largest commercial sales this year.