Adler Plans to Invest Up to $60M in Retail `Land Bank'

Adler says his company has set up what he calls "a war room" in which it has mapped out each city in the state and layered it with information "on approved developments, their timeline and potential impact." It then identifies potential retail sites for each area through a variety of sources, according to Adler, which include brokers, retail developers and landowners, including those with farmland in those areas. "We create a story about each parcel," he says, "and evaluate its retail potential before buying."

These potential retail parcels are "a little smaller than land for other potential development," he says. Adler identified "this niche," he says, on the premise that "significant retail needs to follow residential." Developers that identify parcels for the land bank can "receive rights of first refusal for future purchase," which will be offered "at market rate at the time," he explains.

In a statement, Michael M. Adler, Matthew's father and chairman and CEO of Adler Group, says, "we offer the owners of land [that is] not ready for development for another two to five years, an opportunity for immediate sale, with a quick closing. With the future in mind…[the bank] will close today and assume the risk land owners and developers will typically not take."

Matthew Adler says, "we have some offers out there, but have not yet closed on any parcels." The bank's target pricing begins in the $3-per-sf to $7-per-sf range, he says and acknowledges that it will be higher in South Florida.

Adler Group is a third-generation company that has developed and acquired in excess of 14 million sf of industrial, office, retail and residential real estate in Florida and the southern US. The bank represents "a new business niche" for the company.