The two new buys are Village Square at Golf in Boynton Beach and Village Square at Pembroke in Pembroke Pines. The seller of Village Square at Golf was Cartagena Holding Co. of Miami. That center sold for about $13.5 million. This 135,000-sf, Publix-anchored shopping center is located on the northeast corner of Military Trail and Woolbright Road. The 19-year-old center is 95%-occupied. Its other major tenants are First Union, Bank of America and Lifestyle Design Furniture.

Aruba/Pembroke Investments of Miami sold Village Square at Pembroke for approximately $8.5 million. This 85,000-sf center, located on the southeast corner of Taft Street and Hiatus Road, is also anchored by Publix. This 23-year-old center is 99%-occupied. Other tenants there include McDonald's and Bank of America.

Woolbright Development, which also will operate the centers, is partial to Publix shopping centers because they are almost guaranteed successes, Tyriver says. "Publix is a very strong tenant in South Florida, and they tend to do very well in attracting other tenants to the centers," she reports. "We're continuing to search for Publix-anchored shopping centers in all of Florida." Woolbright Development also owns Publix-anchored centers in South Florida's Deerfield Beach, Tamarac and Miami.