CORAL SPRINGS, FL-RM Coral Palm Plaza Ltd., whose general partner is Ross Matz Investments II, sold Coral Palm Plaza to Coral Palm Acquisition LLC, whose managing partner is Fort Lauderdale-based Cypress Creek Capital, for $17 million or $125 per sf. Cypress is an affiliate of BFC Financial, which owns Bank Atlantic Bancorp and Levitt Corp., both based in Fort Lauderdale, and a stake of approximately 30% in Boca Raton-based Bluegreen Corp.

The 136,000-sf shopping center, located at 2081 N. University Dr., was built in 1986 and has nearly tripled in value over the past five years. The Barry Ross/William Matz partnership acquired it from Fort Lauderdale-based Woolbright Development in May 2001 for nearly $11.9 million or about $88.55 per sf. Woolbright acquired it in January 2000 for $6.2 million or about $45.59 per sf., according to the Broward County appraiser's office.

Davie-based Ross Realty Investments Inc., headed by Barry Ross, handled the current sales transaction. Gloria Gemayel, VP of acquisitions for Ross Realty, tells GlobeSt.com the center is about 96% occupied. Anchors are Big Lots and Michaels. Other tenants include Panera Bread, "a relatively new tenant," according to Gemayel, and Doris Italian Market, a regional company.

Ross Matz Investments sold three other South Florida shopping centers in August 2004 to Birmingham, AL-based Colonial Properties Trust for approximately $81.7 million. The sale included the 377,000-sf Deerfield Mall in Deerfield, also in Broward County, which traded for nearly $51.3 million or about $136 per sf.

Broward added almost 1.2 million sf of retail space in 2004, nearly doubling retail construction activity the previous year. Currently, another one million sf is under construction, according to data from the Miami office of CB Richard Ellis. The CBRE report says the county's overall retail vacancy rate if 5.6% and the average asking rental rate is $16.53 per sf.