Stiles Buys Metro Miami Retail Center
The company teams up with FCA Partners to acquire the asset for a second time.
Stiles and FCA Partners have acquired Shoppes of Wilton Manors, a 77,746-square-foot neighborhood retail center in Wilton Manors, Fla., part of Greater Fort Lauderdale, for $27.6 million. The seller was Grass River Property, a South Florida investor, which acquired the property in 2018 for $21 million.
Shoppes of Wilton Manors, located at 2200-2292 Wilton Drive, was built in 1958 and expanded in 1985. This is the second time Stiles has owned Shoppes of Wilton Manors. The company purchased it back in 2004 and sold it in 2007 after making improvements.
This time around, Stiles is planning to renovate the property starting early next year, focusing on improvements to the façade, walkways, landscaping and parking areas. The company will use several of its integrated real estate services, including development, property management and tenant project management services, to execute the transformation.
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The property was 84 percent occupied before the sale, according to CommercialEdge data. There are currently 12 tenants, none of whose leases expire over the next 12 months. The tenant mix includes restaurants, fashion and other retailers. Average annual household income for the surrounding Zip code (33305) is above $138,000.
The deal fits into Stiles’ acquisition strategy, which seeks mid- to large-sized retail centers in infill Florida locations as value-add and repositioning plays, according to a company statement.
JLL’s Jorge Portela, Maurice Habif and Danny Finkle represented the seller in the transaction. Financing for the acquisition and redevelopment plan came from Synovus Bank.
Besides hunting retail deals, Stiles has been an active developer recently as well. Earlier this year, a joint venture between Stiles and Shorenstein Properties completed 110 East, a 23-story, 370,000-square-foot office building in Charlotte, N.C.
Fort Lauderdale Retail Market Still Tight
Fort Lauderdale has experienced a slowdown in retail leasing activity over the past 12 months, according to Matthews Real Estate Investment Service, putting the local retail vacancy rate at a still-tight 3.7 percent. Natural population growth, along with the post-pandemic return of tourism to the area, have combined to boost retail expenditure.
The upshot of recent economic trends has translated into significant rent increases for retail space in the area, with annual growth of 2.5 percent in mid-2024, although this has decreased from a peak of a 10.9 percent rate at the end of 2022, Matthews noted.
During the period from 2020 to 2023, around 1 million square feet of retail was delivered to the Fort Lauderdale market, Matthews reported. Only a little over 190,000 square feet is now in the development pipeline.
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