CTO Realty Growth has entered the South Florida market with its first acquisition in the region, purchasing a Broward shopping center for $65.2 million.
The Winter Park-based company, led by John Albright, has acquired Pompano Citi Centre—a 509,000-square-foot retail complex located at 1955 North Federal Highway in Pompano Beach—according to a news release. The purchase price equates to about $128 per square foot.
The sale was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield.
Pompano Citi Centre is the most recent South Florida shopping center to be sold amid a wave of year-end transactions.
The seller, a West Palm Beach-based Sterling Organization affiliate, originally bought the 35-acre property in 2012 for $15 million, according to public records. Sterling subsequently redeveloped the former Sears Auto Center on the site, converting it into a fully leased, multi-tenant strip mall.
In the previous year, Macy’s sold a separate 12-acre portion of the mall property—including one of its closed stores—for $18.8 million to Morgan Group and Carlyle Group. The joint venture also purchased the parking lot around the Macy’s section for $8.8 million. Morgan and Carlyle plan to develop a 356-unit apartment complex on the site.
Pompano Citi Centre is currently 92 percent leased and features anchor tenants such as Burlington, TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, Ross Dress for Less, and J.C. Penney. CTO has engaged Avenue Real Estate Partners to market the available space, which includes a 62,000-square-foot vacancy on the mall’s second floor.
CTO, a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in shopping centers, now owns nine such properties in Florida, according to its website. With the addition of Pompano Citi Centre, CTO’s investment total for the year has reached $149.9 million, the release noted.
This transaction comes as investor interest in South Florida retail assets remains strong. North Miami-based IMC Equity Group recently acquired Doral Square—a nearly fully leased shopping center developed by David Martin’s Terra—for $74 million.
Additionally this month, Raanan Katz’s firm RK Centers purchased a Fort Lauderdale shopping center for $36 million, while Lakeland-based grocer Publix bought a Boca Raton strip mall anchored by one of its stores for $83 million.
