(Crystal Proenza is associate editor of Real Estate Florida.)

OPA LOCKA, FL-A large institutional investment group based in Atlanta that wishes to remain unnamed has acquired a nine-property distribution portfolio from locally based Amprop Development Corp. in an all-cash transaction for $16.7 million. Flowers Baking Group, a subsidiary of Thomasville, GA-based Fortune 500 company Flowers Food, leases and occupies all nine locations.

Each of the properties consist of open warehouse space that Flowers uses as distribution center to supply their baked goods to foodservice and retail customers in the Southeast, including Publix and Walmart, says Greg Bond, director with commercial real estate brokerage firm Stan Johnson Co., who represented the seller in the transaction. Various buildings in the portfolio also have a small retail component, from which Flowers sells its baked goods brands such as Nature's Own, Cobblestone Mill and ButterKrust.

The largest property in the portfolio is a 10,560-sf facility in Opa Locka, FL. The other seven Florida properties range in size from 6,900 sf to 9,687 sf, located in Perrine, Sweetwater, Pompano Beach, Jacksonville, Pembroke Park, Sunrise and Riviera Beach. The Brunswick, GA property consists of 6,340 sf of distribution space.