Houston's Weingarten Buys Northbridge Center

Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors bought the trophy property from joint owners AMB Property Corp. of San Francisco and Miami-based Lefmark Group.

The parties declined to give the sales price but area brokers intimate with the deal tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity Northbridge went for at least $150 per sf or about $35 million.

The property went for the high-end price because it was "a unique offering of a trophy retail asset located in one of Broward County's hottest retail submarkets, East Fort Lauderdale," according to Mark Gilbert, senior director/financial services, Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc., Miami. "Retail assets in this submarket are highly coveted but rarely come up for sale."

Adam Feinstein, Gilbert's longtime partner, participated in representing the sellers. Gilbert tells GlobeSt.com "the only sale I am aware of that sold for more gross dollars is Oakwood Plaza, which was part of a portfolio sale last year."

He says investor interest in the property from REITs and pension fund advisors was strong because of the property's national tenant roll and their individual sales volume.

Among Northbridge tenants are Publix Supermarket, Ross Dress For Less, Bally's Total Fitness, Dollar Tree Stores, Atlanta Bread, Fashion Bug, Nextel, H&R Block, Payless Shoesource and Washington Mutual. The asking rent range is $20 per sf to $24 per sf.

The Gilbert-Feinstein team has completed $300 million of investment transactions in the past 24 months. Among their sales were Kendall Mall in south Miami and Mission Bay Plaza in Boca Raton.

For Weingarten, the acquisition was the REIT's nine in Florida. Northbridge sits on 21.59 acres at the intersection of Commercial Boulevard and Dixie Highway.