This represented a change from a non-credit tenant with a couple of years left on its lease to a very creditworthy tenant, Ross says. "Their credit is A+, and they gave us a 10-year lease, so it made the center more salable."

Since it bought the center, Ross Matz Investments also replaced HIP of Florida, which occupied 75,000 sf with its parent company, HIP of New York, which took 80,000 sf and "added significant creditworthiness."

Increasing its occupancy to 98% "is another reason we were able to make such a big profit," Ross says. The center was 92% leased when Ross Matz Investments bought it.

The center was originally built as Hollywood Mall more than 40 years ago and was converted to an open-air shopping center by Swerdlow Real Estate Group in the mid-90s. Ross Realty Investments Inc., a full-service real estate brokerage of which Ross is president, brokered the sale of Hollywood Hills Plaza.

Ross Matz Investments also sold an outparcel to the center in March for $437,000, for a total of nearly $40 million in sales. Ken Israel, owner of the Wachovia-anchored office building, purchased the outparcel. The outparcel was a parking lot that was part of Ross Matz Investments' income stream. Ross Matz had leased the parcel to Israel.

Ross says Ross Matz Investments, an active developer and buyer of well-situated neighborhood shopping centers in Florida, is "eager" to re-deploy the funds from this sale to more shopping centers in the state and is also prepared to buy another $150 million in shopping centers in Florida over the next 12 months.

South Florida is the company's preference, he says, but the company also is looking at deals in Orlando and has dealt with properties in various Florida cities.