Publix has expanded its South Florida presence by acquiring another shopping center anchored by one of its own stores, purchasing a retail property in Palm Beach County for $83 million.
An affiliate of Lakeland-based Publix, under the leadership of CEO Kevin Murphy, purchased the Polo Club Shops at 5050 Champion Boulevard, according to property records. The grocery chain paid $616 per square foot for the 134,800-square-foot shopping center, a price that is $32 million higher than what it sold for ten years ago.
The seller was an affiliate of Atlanta-based Jamestown, managed by Matt Bronfman. Jamestown initially acquired Polo Club Shops in 2015 for $50.6 million. The shopping plaza, originally built in 1988, spans 14.2 acres. The transaction was brokered by a Cushman & Wakefield team led by Mark Gilbert and Adam Feinstein on behalf of Jamestown.
Jamestown undertook a significant renovation of the center in 2022, which included demolishing and rebuilding the Publix supermarket. The new store expanded to 48,400 square feet and is now operated under a 20-year lease.
Currently, Polo Club Shops is 97 percent leased. Other tenants at the property include Bolay, AT&T, Chase Bank, and The UPS Store.
This acquisition highlights Publix’s ongoing strategy of purchasing shopping centers anchored by its supermarkets. Owning these centers allows Publix greater control over its locations and generates additional rental income from adjacent tenants.
The purchase of Polo Club Shops follows just two months after Publix acquired Hammocks Town Center in Kendall, an unincorporated area in southwest Miami-Dade County, for $71.9 million. That 207,500-square-foot shopping center is also anchored by a Publix store. Notably, the Hammocks Town Center deal did not include five outparcels, which remain separately owned by entities like Bank of America and McDonald’s.
Since May of last year, including the Polo Club Shops deal, Publix has invested nearly $428 million to acquire a standalone store and eight Publix-anchored shopping centers throughout South Florida. Other recent acquisitions include retail properties in Coral Springs, Davie, Lake Worth Beach, and Royal Palm Beach, along with the purchase of a North Miami strip mall for $40 million and a property next to the Galeria Fort Lauderdale mall for $25 million.
