A Chicago-based retail real estate investor made its first foray into South Florida with the acquisition of a Palm Beach County shopping center.
An affiliate of Bucksbaum Properties paid $27.1 million for Plaza La Mer at 849 Donald Ross Road in Juno Beach, according to records and Vizzda. The deal breaks down to $225 per square foot for the 120,152-square-foot retail plaza.
The seller, an entity managed by Inanc Kirgiz in Delray Beach, paid $3.6 million for the property in 1993, records show. Sitting on 10.2 acres, Plaza La Mer consists of five single-story buildings completed in 1988. The shopping center’s 32-tenant roster includes Dunkin’ Donuts, Tire Kingdom, Loggerhead Fitness and Trust Co. Bank.
Bucksbaum, founded in 2011 by company CEO John Bucksbaum, specializes in acquiring urban infill retail properties, according to the firm’s website. Bucksbaum’s portfolio includes five shopping centers and indoor malls in Chicago, Atlanta and St. Louis, Missouri.
South Florida commercial trades involving retail sites have picked up in recent weeks. Coconut Grove-based Terra sold 16000 Pines Market, a fully leased shopping plaza anchored by a Publix grocery store in Pembroke Pines. Apollo Realty Income Solutions, a real estate investment arm of Marc Rowan’s Apollo Global Management, paid $56 million for the 135,000-square-foot shopping center developed by Terra between 2018 and last year.
Also last month, former New York retail appliance moguls Albert and Elie Fouerti bought University Commons, a grocery store-anchored shopping center in Tamarac, for $14.8 million.
In Coral Springs, Williams Magnolia Properties sold Magnolia Shoppes, a 114,000-square-foot retail plaza on 12 acres. The buyers, real estate investors Guofeng Ma, Wenrui Ma and Wei Cheng, paid $26.5 million.
In another shopping center deal last month, Edens picked up Shadowood Square near Boca Raton for $88.4 million. A partnership led by real estate investor and former Pinecrest Mayor Evelyn Langlieb Greer sold the 11-building retail plaza on 29 acres.