MetLife sells Pinecrest shopping center to Miami JV for $71M

After keeping it on its books for nearly 30 years, Metropolitan Life Insurance has sold a Pinecrest shopping center to a Miami-based joint venture for $70.5 million.

An affiliate of Ibrahim Al-Rashid’s Limestone Asset Management and Joseph Sanz’ Orion Real Estate Group picked up the Colonial Palms Plaza, a retail outlet with four outparcels spanning more than 188,000-square-feet at 13605-13619 South Dixie Highway.

The deal breaks down to $374 a square foot. JLL’s Eric Williams represented MetLife. The buyers got financing from Goldman Sachs, but did not disclose the loan amount in a press release announcing the deal.

Colonial Palms was completed in 1988, records show. MetLife acquired the 15.2-acre property in a 1993 auction after foreclosing on its previous owner.

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The shopping center is 97 percent occupied, with a tenant roster including Marshalls/HomeGoods, PetSmart, Old Navy, Party City and Miller’s Ale House.

Miami-based Orion has been involved in more than $7 billion in real estate transactions since its founding in 1978 and has a portfolio worth $1 billion across the U.S. and Canada, according to its website. Founded in 2010 by Al-Rashid, Limestone shares a Miami office with Orion at 200 South Biscayne Boulevard and says it owns more than $200 million worth of commercial properties across the U.S.

The Colonial Palms transaction represents the second deal in Pinecrest since last year for Limestone and Orion. In March 2021, the joint venture paid $32 million for Pinecrest Town Center, an office and retail plaza at 12651 South Dixie Highway that is currently undergoing a $4 million renovation.

In other South Florida retail deals this month, Hollywood-based investor Todd Nepola acquired two adjacent shopping centers in Lauderdale Lakes for $23.7 million, and Miami-based Sofi Retails paid $57 million for Doral Shops, a two-story retail outlet in Doral.

Source: https://therealdeal.com/miami/2022/12/28/metlife-sells-pinecrest-shopping-center-to-miami-jv-for-71m/