PORT ORANGE, FL-Despite an odd lease deal, a CVS Pharmacy has traded hands for $2.78 million. The 10,884-square-foot single-tenant leased property had 18 years left on the triple net lease, but the tenant is only paying base rent for the next 15 years.

Leon Brockmeier and Patrick O'Halloran, retail investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Tampa and Atlanta offices, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a Missouri-based private investor. The listing agents also secured the buyer of the property, a limited liability company from New York.

“This was an unusual deal because of the lease terms,” Bryn Merrey, vice president and regional manager of M&M’s Tampa office, tells GlobeSt.com. “If this had been a typical CVS deal it would have traded at about a 7.2 cap rate. This one sold at a 7.65 cap rate. It was also a former zero cash flow that the seller originally purchased from the developer.”

Even with the special circumstances, the vintage 2004 CVS, complete with its drive-through on about three acres of land, sold within seven days of the original listing. The strong credit tenant and the high store sales helped attract an investor. It’s another example of the strong surge in single tenant deals in Central Florida.

“Strong credit single tenant deals are literally flying off the market,” Merrey says. “We listed a single tenant Tuffy Auto Care property last week. It went to contract within a week at 99.5% of list price.”

Although Merrey says he’d be surprised if single tenant sales got any stronger, he doesn’t expect the demand for these assets to slow in 2012. With so many investors getting burned over the past few years, Walgreens, CVS and Rite-Aids are more attractive even with lower returns.

“Strong single tenant properties still represent a flight to safety,” he says. “I wonder if we’ll see people moving down the chain on the quality side just to get into some of these deals next year.”