Publix Ups South Florida Shopping Spree to $140M

Shortly after buying two retail centers it anchors in Broward County, supermarket chain Publix has bought two more in neighboring Palm Beach County, bringing its total shopping spree in South Florida to $140.2 million, property records show. 

In the most recent, larger transaction, the Lakeland, Fla.-based grocer paid $36.2 million for Woods Walk Plaza, a 13-acre property at 9855 Lake Worth Road, next to the intersection with South State Road 7 near Wellington. 

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Besides a 48,555-square-foot Publix, the 88,000-square-foot shopping mall is home to Original Brooklyn Water Bagel, Subway, Supercuts and State Farm Insurance. 

For the smaller property — a 78,405-square-foot mall at 11935 Southern Boulevard in Royal Palm Beach — Publix paid $21 million. The 10-acre property features a 51,000-square-foot Publix supermarket, as well as Duffy’s Sports Bar, Carvel Ice Cream, Hair Cuttery and T-Mobile.

The purchases are part of a $224 million portfolio sale of seven Publix-anchored retail centers in Florida, according to JLL, which brokered the transactions. The portfolio’s total retail footprint comes to 608,314 square feet, 97 percent of which is occupied. 

In Broward County, Publix purchased two shopping centers for a combined $83 million. The properties outside of South Florida are in Kissimmee and Fort Myers. The seller in each transaction was New Jersey-based PGIM Real Estate, which was represented by the brokerage’s Danny Finkle, Jorge Portela and Kim Flores.

These four transactions total $140.2 million and are separate from Publix’s first shopping spree in Florida earlier this year, in which the grocer spent a combined $134 million on retail centers in Key West and Coral Springs.

The company’s expansion is part of a broader trend of tenants purchasing retail space to hedge against further rent hikes as the investment market has slowed because of skyrocketing interest rates. 

In New York, luxury fashion companies Kering and Prada bought properties along Fifth Avenue, spending nearly $2 billion. In Miami, Alo Yoga and Whole Foods bought their stores, too.  

Representatives for Publix and PGIM Real Estate, the asset manager of Prudential Financial, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.