Ross Realty Picks Up Two Shopping Centers for Average $109 per SF

MIAMI-The only thing that could upstage Ross Realty Investment’s June purchase of a shopping center was Ross Realty’s performance in July.

The Davie, FL-based real estate company has purchased two shopping centers in as many months totaling 261,000 sf for a combined cost of $28.45 million or an average $109 per sf.

Using inhouse partnerships, Ross paid LEF/College Parkway LLC $11.1 million or $135.37 per sf for the 80,000-sf, 32-year-old, 100%-leased College Parkway Center at U.S. 441 and College Parkway in Fort Myers, FL, 150 miles northeast of Downtown Miami. JP Morgan Mortgage Capital funded the purchase.

The 14-tenant property, redeveloped completely in 2000, has quoted average rents of $18 to $20 per sf.

Anchor Office Dept is one the top revenue producers for the Delray Beach, FL-based office products firm, according to Barry Ross and Bill Matz, the general partners of Ross Realty’s inhouse partnerships.

RM College Parkway Center Ltd. was the buyer of record. Mark Gilbert of Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc. negotiated for the seller. Ross Realty represented itself.

“We see both southeast and southwest Florida real estate markets unaffected so far by any slowdown in the economy,” Barry Ross tells GlobeSt.com. “In the 25 centers that we manage and lease, we are now experiencing all-time high occupancy rates and all-time low delinquency rates.”

In the second acquisition, another Ross partnership, RM Boynton Shoppes, paid GE Capital Realty Group $17.35 million or $96.93 per sf for the 179,000-sf, 12-year-old, 94%-leased Shoppes of Boynton in Boynton Beach, FL, 80 miles north of Downtown Miami. General Electric Capital Corp. financed the purchase.

The property, at the northeast corner of Congress Avenue and Gateway Boulevard, is anchored by Ross Dress for Less, Tuesday Morning, Boynton Ale House and a multiplex Regal Cinema.

The 27-tenant center has quoted average rents of $18 to $20 per sf. Bill Tourlette of GMH Capital Partners negotiated for the seller. Ross Realty Investments represented itself.