Safeway Group Buys Pensacola Center

PENSACOLA, FL-Sensing a bargain in a desirable Northwest Florida retail market, Safeway Group Inc. of Pleasanton, CA has acquired the 54-year-old, fully renovated, 75%-leased Town & Country Plaza Shopping Center here for $5.8 million.

Area retail brokers familiar with the Panhandle market tell GlobeSt.com the $26.75 per-sf price is far below replacement cost of the 216,817-sf property sold by Watch Omega Holdings LLC of Austin. The center at North Pace Boulevard and Fairfield Drive is anchored by a Save-A-Lot grocery, and features JoAnn’s Fabrics, Escambia County building and 26 other merchants.

Bill Tourtellotte, Steve Behrle and Dave Forrest of GMH Capital Partners in Newtown Square, PA negotiated for the seller. Ben Carter Properties represented the buyer. Tourtellotte says Safeway Group bought the center “for its appreciation potential in a stabilized and fast-growing North Florida real estate marketplace.”