Manatee County shopping plaza sold for nearly $40M

An affiliate of a Miami property investment firm specializing in retail has purchased a Manatee County shopping center.

CORE Investment Management says in a statement that Cortez Plaza was sold to an unnamed affiliate. The seller is an LLC tied to Hackney Real Estate Partners of Richmond, Virginia. The purchase price was $39.4 million, Core Investment Management Managing Principal Michael Lapointe says in an email to the Business Observer.

The more than 260,000-square-foot retail center is anchored by LA Fitness and Sprouts at the intersection of US 41 and Cortez Road West, where more than 100,000 cars pass daily, according to a statement.

In addition to Sprouts and LA Fitness, other tenants include PetSmart and Burlington. The site also benefits from newly developed outparcels where Chick-fil-A and Starbucks are now located, and its proximity within a mile of the former DeSoto Mall, which is currently being redeveloped, according to the statement. The 52-acre mall site is being turned into apartments through multiple projects.

“This purchase is in-line with our focus on value-add opportunities,” CORE Managing Principal Adam Greenberg says in the statement, “in key markets with strong in-place yields.”

CORE manages 2 million square feet of property throughout Florida, with the majority concentrated in Orlando, according to the statement. Its typical transaction size, according to its website, is $20 million to $50 million.