Redfearn Capital’s acquisition of a West Palm Beach retail and office building shows that commercial real estate wheeling and dealing in the city remains on fire as 2021 closes out.
The Delray Beach-based commercial real estate investment firm, headed by founder Alexander Redfearn, paid $17.9 million for the two-story mixed-use project at 222 Clematis Street, according to records. The half-acre property is in the heart of the city’s downtown.
Redfearn’s purchase of the 32,564-square-foot building equates to $550 a square foot.
The company manages $350 million in commercial real estate assets in the Southeast and Colorado, according to its website. In May, Redfearn sold a Boynton Beach medical office building to ShareMD for $6.5 million.
An affiliate of New York-based Atlas Real Estate Partners sold the Clematis Street property to Redfearn for $8 million above its previous purchase price of $10.3 million in 2015.
Dominic Montazemi and Mike Ciadella with Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller.
Originally built in 1925 as a pharmacy and an arcade, the property is fully leased, according to a press release. Starbucks, Rocco’s Tacos and modern furniture store Design Within Reach occupy the ground floor, and the second floor features loft-style office suites, the release states.
In a statement, Ciadella said Cushman & Wakefield received “tremendous new-to-market investor demand” for the property. Investors are bullish for commercial assets on Clematis Street due to the retail street’s growth potential tied to a booming population in West Palm Beach, Ciadella said.
In addition to Redfearn Capital, South Miami-based Estate Companies recently dove into West Palm Beach for the first time with a $15.8 million purchase of a 2.5-acre site at 550 North Rosemary Avenue. The developer plans to build a multifamily complex.
Earlier this month, Tortoise Properties, which is based in Chicago and West Palm Beach, paid $18.8 million for a multifamily development site in downtown West Palm.
With so much investor demand, West Palm Beach city officials are looking to entice new development in an underutilized area downtown that is now called the Nora District. In conjunction with NDT Development and Place Projects, which own 13 acres in Nora, the city wants to implement a set of building regulations aimed at fostering new construction.