GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Oak Grove Shoppes Deal Tops $19M

(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL-Finishing up a record production year, James P. Michalak, senior director, Capital Markets Group, Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc., has closed his 12th shopping center deal this year with the $19.5-million sale of suburban Oak Grove Shoppes. Michalak says his 12 deals total 1.63 million sf and are valued at $127 million.

In the Oak Grove Shoppes transaction, which closed Nov. 8, Woolbright Development Inc. of Boca Raton paid the Simpson Organization of Atlanta $110.68 per sf for the 176,777-sf, 93%-leased property at 995 State Road 434. The 22-year-old retail center is about seven miles north of Downtown Orlando. Michalak negotiated for the seller. The buyer represented itself.

Michalak tells GlobeSt.com the per-sf-price is “well below replacement costs, especially considering the high cost of construction, the price of land in Altamonte Springs and [local] impact fees.” The broker says seven “legitimate” buyers were bidding for the 22.13-acre property.

Oak Grove Shoppes has 41 tenants including anchors Stein Mart, Fresh Market, Drexel Heritage and World Gym. The average asking rent is $17.50 per sf. The property was on the market for five months and the deal took 78 days to complete, from contract signing to closing. The deal was done at this time because the seller wanted “to take advantage of the low cap rate, high-value market conditions,” Michalak says.

Michalak’s sales record of Florida properties this year, besides Oak Grove Shoppes, includes the 204,070-sf Inverness Regional Shopping Center, Inverness; the 131,851-sf Northgate Shopping Center, Melbourne; the 207,071-sf Curfew Crossing, Clearwater; the 93,358-sf Suncrest Village, Orlando; the 95,936-sf Point Plaza, Tampa; the 184,853-sf Eastgate Plaza, Pensacola; the 189,509-sf Colonial Promenade, Orlando; the 118,828-sf Lake Washington Crossing, Melbourne; the 92,012-sf Magnolia Lane, Green Cove Springs; the 73,200-sf Central Plaza, St. Petersburg; and the 65,100-sf Seminole Lakes, Punta Gorda.

“It has been a busy year and it isn’t over yet,” Michalak says.