Inland Adds 17th Retail Asset to Fla. Portfolio

ORLANDO-Like a runaway train, Inland Real Estate Trust Inc. of Oak Brook, IL is doing a deal a month, the bulk of them in Florida and Georgia. The 13-year-old, 281,247-sf Skyview Plaza Shopping Center in south Orlando is the Illinois REIT’s 17th Florida asset.

Inland paid Atlanta-based OP&F Schroeder Trust $21.25 million or $75.56 per sf for the 99.6%-leased property at the northeast corner of South Orange Blossom Trail and Sand Lake Road in south Orlando.

The acquisition brings Inland’s Florida portfolio to 2.11 million sf with an estimated aggregate value of $200 million based on an average $95 per-sf purchase price, according to GlobeSt.com research.

Inland’s total Southeast portfolio is 3.4 million sf with an estimated aggregate value of $325 million. The 1.24 million-sf Georgia inventory has an estimated aggregate value of $125 million.

The REIT is by far the most aggressive retail property buyer in the state this year, based on transactions reported over the past nine months by GlobeSt.com. Inland has closed on one million sf of new assets this year alone in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee.

“If you look at the properties we’ve purchased, you can see that we are centering our attention on Orlando and Atlanta, but that doesn’t mean we’re limited ourselves to those areas,” Steve Sanders, senior vice president, Inland Real Estate Acquisitions Inc., tells GlobeSt.com.

“We have identified and are acquiring properties in other markets in Florida and Georgia, and have added select markets in North Carolina and South Carolina for our acquisition program.”

The Skyview Plaza acquisition “meets all of the criteria we look for in a property,” Sanders tells GlobeSt.com. “The center is anchored by a newly remodeled ($1 million) Publix grocery store as well as national discount tenants and is located in one of Orlando’s strongest retail corridors.”

Inland “focuses on purchasing grocery and discount store-anchored centers because they are more resistant to recession,” the Inland executive says.

Besides Publix, other major anchors at Skyview Plaza are Kmart, Circuit City, Office Depot and Walgreens. Circuit City completed a $2.2 million store renovation in November 2000. An additional $62,000 in capital improvements were completed throughout 2000.

Skyview Plaza has two single-level, open-air, multi-tenant retail buildings and five outparcel buildings. The four outparcels are occupied by Blockbuster Video, Olive Garden Restaurant, Taco Bell and Backyard Burgers.

The International House of Pancakes occupies the fifth outparcel which was not part of the transaction.

Most of Skyview Plaza was built in 1988. The outparcels were built in 1988, 1991 and 1994.