(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.
Flowers has occupied all nine properties anywhere from two to ten years, depending on the location, says Bond. "Each has an absolute net lease with a term of at least fifteen years with options to renew for another 15 to 20 years," says David Clary, also a director with Stan Johnson, who represented the buyer in the transaction.
Both Clary and Bond say they are seeing more all-cash transactions in today's financing market, but add that buyers don't necessarily desire this type of deal. "I think many of these buyers would certainly prefer to utilize debt," says Clary. "What we're finding is many of them are willing to buy all cash with the prospect of financing at some point in the future. I think it's indicative of there being some optimism that the capital markets will come back around and will be able to place the debt financing at reasonable terms in the near future."
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