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PALM BEACH—The former home of Ed Morse Chevrolet dealership will soon be marked by the Mazda brand. The 6.5-acre property at the northwest corner of Northlake Boulevard and Alternate AIA just traded for $5 million.
Reichel Realty represented the seller, Morse Operations. Grieco Motors acquired the site, which includes three buildings totaling 45,000 square feet. The buyer will renovate the property and open as Grieco Mazda of North Palm Beach, occupying 4.5 acres and the main 35,000-square-foot building. Grieco will lease the balance of the property, which spans 2.8 acres and two buildings totaling 8,000 square feet.
“We worked to sell this property for several years and had some contracts with different groups come and go,” Bill Reichel, principal of Reichel Realty, tells GlobeSt.com. “They were trying to figure out how to turn the property into an investment.”
Grieco Motors, which also owns and operates Grieco Mazda of Delray Beach, was among the potential buyers that approached the seller two years ago. But the deal fell apart. The property has ben vacant for years, and Reichel says the sale is a good sign for the economy as the Northlake Blvd. corridor continues to develop.
“The zoning was a challenge,” Reichel says. “Even though the site had been a car dealer for many years, it had been vacant. We had to wrestle a little bit with the city to make sure the zoning was intact.”
At $5 million, Reichel says the asset traded for market value because that’s what the market was willing to settle on after four years of vacancy. It may have traded for even less if a shopping center group had acquired the asset.
“In your head, you have to say $5 million sounds like a great value for that piece of real estate with all the improvements,” Reichel says. “They are going to spend several million dollars renovating the property. Still, think that’s a phenomenal price for the buyer because they are the user of it.”
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