NJ Investor Buys Upscale Palm Beach Property
The retail center is anchored by a Publix store.
Garden Commercial has acquired the 83,800-square-foot Plaza Del Mar, an upscale grocery-anchored retail property located in Manalapan, Fla. for an unspecified price. The shopping center is at 250 South Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach County, directly across from Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa.
The deal represents a further expansion in Florida for New Jersey-based Garden Commercial, which has many properties in its home state. The company currently owns and manages more than 25 million square feet of retail and office space.
The seller was a joint venture between Kitson & Partners and Evergreen Investment Advisors. Locally-based Kitson, which owns about 1.5 million square feet of retail space as well as residential and other commercial properties, developed the shopping center. The company is also known for its sustainable developments in the state.
Plaza Del Mar features a Publix grocery store and eateries such as Art Basil Modern Italian Cuisine, John G’s, Thaikyo Asian Cuisine and The Ice Cream Club. Apparel store tenants include Chico’s, Evelyn & Arthur and J. McLaughlin, among others. Addicted Chic is set to open later this year.
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Service providers at the property include a dermatologist, bank, hair salon, nail salon, residential real estate specialist Illustrated Properties and Chabad of South Palm Beach, which holds social, educational, and holiday programs and activities. About 8,000 square feet of the property is vacant.
Scott Loventhal and Michael Gartenberg served as Garden Commercial’s in-house representatives for the acquisition. CBRE’s National Retail Partners team in Florida, led by Executive Vice Presidents Casey Rosen and Dennis Carson, as well as Associate Vice Presidents Sriram Rajan and Michael Etemad, represented the seller.
Palm Beach Retail Slightly Weaker in Q3
Palm Beach County experienced a modest rise in retail vacancy during Q3 of 2024, rising to 3.9 percent vacant, a 30-basis point increase quarter-over-quarter, according to Colliers. A year earlier, the vacancy rate was 3.4 percent. The uptick was spurred by negative net absorption of 156,600 square feet during the same period.
Even so, the market is expected to remain supply-constrained, Colliers reports, as few tenants move out and little new retail space is completed in the county. Only 32,400 square feet of new retail space came online in Palm Beach County during Q3 2024, compared with 39,600 square feet during the same quarter a year earlier.
However, development activity in South Florida (including retail) might be stimulated in 2025 by the coming rate-cutting cycle. The Colliers report states that investors could be more keen on the property type as well, especially grocery-anchored assets, which have proven resilient, with stable rents and occupancy rates, because of the essential nature of the goods they sell.
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