Publix buys shopping centers in Volusia, Flagler counties
The Lakeland-based grocery chain paid $16 million on July 11 for the New Smyrna Beach Regional Shopping Center in New Smyrna Beach, according to Volusia County property records.
Publix also paid $10.8 million on July 17 for the Beach Village Shopping Center in Flagler Beach, according to Flagler County property records.
“The centers were good investments for our company and our stockholders,” said Dwaine Stevens, a Publix spokesman. “We continue to search for wise investment opportunities as indicated by the centers we have recently acquired.”
The purchases come on the heels of Publix’s $20 million acquisition in early June of half of a shopping center in West Volusia: the Crown Centre shopping center in Orange City. The portion it purchased included the building that houses a Publix grocery store.
The Publix brand is an attractive investment in the commercial real estate market, said Brad Peterson, the senior managing director for the Orlando office of HFF Inc., a national commercial real estate firm that represented Equity One, the seller of the New Smyrna Beach Regional Shopping Center.
“HFF has sold 23 Publix-anchored shopping centers in Florida since 2012, and we continue to see a strong demand for these types of retail investments,” he said in a prepared statement.
Source: www.news-journalonline.com
