Investcorp Sells 606,480 SF of Retail

DELRAY BEACH, FL-Investcorp, a global investment group based in New York, has sold two Palm Beach County shopping centers that it paid more than $100 million for less than a year and a half ago to Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust of Farmington Hills, MI. The two centers–Plaza at Delray in this city and Mission Bay Plaza in Boca Raton–total 606,480 sf.The sales prices were not disclosed. However, Investcorp paid close to $109 million for the two combined. Linton Delray LLC–a Delaware limited liability company controlled by Investcorp International Inc.–paid St. Stephen LP nearly $56.7 million for Plaza at Delray in August 2003, according to the Palm Beach County property appraiser’s office. Investcorp acquired Mission Bay Plaza from Invesco Realty Advisors for approximately $52 million in April 2003.Plaza at Delray, a class A community shopping center, was built in 1979 as an enclosed mall. The center underwent a major redevelopment in 1997 and 1998 when it became an open-air center. It consists of 333,566 sf on 35.7 acres. Five well-known companies anchor the center Publix, Regal Cinemas, Linens ‘n Things, Marshalls and Staples. Other tenants include Eckerd and Denny’s.Mission Bay Plaza, a 272,914-sf, class A community shopping center built in 1989, is located on 24.5 acres in the western part of the city near major intersections. The four anchors there are Albertsons, Toys ‘R’ Us, LA Fitness and OfficeMax. Outparcel tenants include Bank of America, Washington Mutual and Mobil.The Plaza at Delray and Mission Bay Plaza sales are the first from Investcorp’s US Diversified Properties III and US Commercial Properties III portfolios. Investcorp was pleased with the sales prices, according to Joel Moody, a principal in Investcorp’s real estate group. “Both transactions resulted in significant gains for our clients and position the larger portfolios very favorably to generate solid overall returns,” he says in a statement. Investcorp officials were unavailable for comment.Gumberg Asset Management of Fort Lauderdale, the property manager and leasing agent, advised Investcorp on the sales, while Cushman & Wakefield represented Investcorp in the transactions.Moody says the last year has been significant for retail investment, making this a good time to sell. “The South Florida market–especially for retail properties–has seen exceptionally strong appreciation over the past year, and we took this opportunity to realize for our clients the significant value that had been created.”In addition, Investcorp has a “relatively long history of investing in the South Florida market” and remains active with properties such as Broward Financial Centre, a Downtown Fort Lauderdale class A office building that it paid about $60.1 million early this year in a joint venture with a Koger Equity Inc. affiliate. “We continue to look actively for other investment opportunities in the market,” he adds.