Coral Springs Shopping Center Bought, to be Repositioned

CORAL SPRINGS, FL—The Royal University Plaza shopping center here is under new ownership that will embark on a capital improvement and new leasing campaign geared at repositioning the University Drive property.

CPAC Royal University, LLC, a joint venture between principals of CREC and Lubert Adler Real Estate Funds, has closed on the $26-million acquisition of the 98,500-square-foot Royal University Plaza. Located at 2556 North University Drive, Royal University Plaza is currently 45% leased to tenants including Petco, Nick's New Haven Style Pizzeria & Bar, Jimmy John's, and Brooklyn Water Bagel Co., which is opening one of the franchise's largest restaurants to date at the retail center.

With this latest acquisition, CPAC and its partners and investors have purchased more than $100 million worth of assets in the past three years. As market conditions continue to improve, CPAC plans to pursue additional strategic acquisitions and also sell and recapitalize assets once it has successfully executed its value enhancement strategies, the company states.

“CPAC and Lubert Adler identified Royal University Plaza as an ideal redevelopment opportunity due to the fact that it was only 45% leased, while competing centers in the area are approximately 98% occupied,” says David Moret, principal of CPAC. “The property was not listed for sale, but we contacted the owner and worked to develop a relationship over the past nine months. We conducted our due diligence on a handshake and moved forward with a non-refundable contract when we were ready. We approached several national tenants prior to closing and have received tremendous interest on the property and are excited about its future tenant line up.”

CPAC Royal University, LLC has engaged CREC's Alan Esquenazi and Sabrina Meerbott to oversee the retail leasing and marketing efforts at Royal University Plaza. The CREC team is already in active discussions with several national anchor tenants, the company states.