CTO Realty Growth has entered the South Florida retail market with the purchase of Pompano Citi Centre, a 509,000-square-foot shopping center located at 1955 North Federal Highway in Pompano Beach. The acquisition price was $65.2 million, which amounts to about $128 per square foot.
The deal marks CTO’s first acquisition in South Florida. The company is based in Winter Park and led by John Albright. Cushman & Wakefield acted as the broker for this transaction.
The seller was an affiliate of Sterling Organization, a real estate investment firm based in West Palm Beach. Sterling acquired the property for $15 million in 2012 and redeveloped part of it, including converting a former Sears Auto Center into a fully leased strip mall.
Pompano Citi Centre is currently 92 percent occupied, with anchor tenants such as Burlington, TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, Ross Dress for Less, and J.C. Penney. Avenue Real Estate Partners has been retained to lease out approximately 62,000 square feet of vacant space on the second floor.
In recent years, parts of the property have changed hands separately. Last year Macy’s sold a portion of land and one of its closed stores on the site to Morgan Group and Carlyle Group for $18.8 million; they also bought an adjacent parking lot for $8.8 million and plan to develop a 356-unit apartment complex there.
CTO Realty Growth is a public real estate investment trust that specializes in shopping centers and owns eight other properties across Florida. With this latest purchase, CTO’s total investment volume for the year has reached $149.9 million.
The sale comes amid increased investor interest in South Florida retail assets. IMC Equity Group recently spent $74 million acquiring Doral Square in Doral from developer Terra. Additionally, RK Centers purchased a Fort Lauderdale shopping center for $36 million this month, while Publix bought a Boca Raton strip mall anchored by one of its stores for $83 million.
