Raanan Katz, a known investor in South Florida shopping centers and minority owner of the Miami Heat, has expanded his retail holdings with the acquisition of Riverbend Marketplace in Fort Lauderdale for $36 million. The purchase was made by an affiliate of RK Centers, Katz’s family-run firm based in Sunny Isles Beach.
The Riverbend Marketplace property, located at 2510 to 2670 West Broward Boulevard, consists of 92,007 square feet and sold for $391 per square foot. This transaction is approximately $8.6 million higher than its previous sale price six years ago.
The seller was an affiliate of Northbridge Capital from Toronto, managed by Stuart, Michael and Adam Lazier. Northbridge acquired the 10.2-acre site for $27.4 million in 2019. The property sits next to a Walmart Supercenter built by Gatlin Development Co., with both the big box store and shopping center completed between 2017 and 2019.
Tenants at Riverbend Marketplace include Marshalls, Planet Fitness, Five Below, Wells Fargo and Chipotle.
This marks RK Centers’ second Broward County shopping center acquisition this year. In April, the company bought Shoppes at Monarch Lakes in Miramar for $16.4 million; that property is anchored by Publix supermarket with other tenants such as Dunkin’, Subway and Banfield Pet Hospital. Additionally, RK Centers purchased a furniture showroom in Pembroke Pines for $15.2 million earlier this year.
Recent months have seen several shopping center transactions across Broward County. In Coral Springs last month, Maven Real Estate acquired Atlantic Crossings—a center anchored by Whole Foods and Home Depot—for $40.5 million while JPMorgan paid $53.7 million for Shoppes at Heron Lakes featuring Crunch Fitness among its tenants. Two more centers traded hands for $26.5 million and $60.5 million respectively.
In October, JBL Asset Management purchased Palm Square shopping center in Hollywood for $25 million.
Market data from Colliers indicates that retail leasing activity remains stable across Broward County: third-quarter vacancy rates stood at 3.9 percent compared to 3.7 percent during the same period last year while average asking rents increased to $28.76 per square foot from last year’s average of $27.86 per square foot.
