Baltimore firm buys Sprouts-anchored Pinellas shopping center

Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate announced Friday it has acquired Keene Plaza in Largo, adding a recently renovated Sprouts Farmers Market-anchored shopping center to its nationwide retail portfolio.

The company did not disclose the purchase price for the 81,272-square-foot center at 2150 East Bay Drive, at the intersection of East Bay Drive and Keene Road, and county property appraiser records have not yet been updated. 

Other tenants inside the shopping center include BioLife Plasma Services, McDonald’s, Little Caesars, Dollar General, Hibachi Express, The Corner Skillet and Corner Wash Laundry, according to a release from MCB Real Estate. 

The acquisition comes on the heels of a 2025 makeover that included updated building facades, resurfaced parking areas, improved lighting, renovated suite interiors, mechanical upgrades and new roofs.

“Keene Plaza represents the type of retail investment we continue to pursue: well-located neighborhood centers anchored by strong retailers and supported by compelling market fundamentals,” Daniel Taub, MCB’s senior managing director and head of retail, says in the release.

Sprouts opened its 23,266-square-foot store in the plaza in March 2025. The grocery store moved in after redevelopment work by St. Petersburg-based Paradise Ventures, which demolished 35,500 square feet of retail space previously occupied by Save A Lot and Bealls Outlet to accommodate Sprouts and another tenant. 

MCB says the shopping center attracts about 2 million visits annually and is positioned in one of the Clearwater/Largo area’s busiest corridors, at an intersection carrying more than 93,500 vehicles daily. More than 16,000 residents live within a mile of Keene Plaza, with a median household income of $66,000, the release says. 

The purchase is part of MCB’s recent push into the grocery-anchored shopping center business. In January, the company announced its acquisition of Austin-based Epic Real Estate Partners, bringing in operations for 15 grocery-anchored centers totaling more than 2 million square feet across 10 states, including Florida, the release says. Those property-level partnership ownership structures remained intact in that transaction.

Then, in April, MCB and New York City’s CBRE Investment Management announced a joint venture acquisition of another seven grocery-anchored shopping centers totaling approximately 1.1 million square feet across five states, according to a release.

Founded in 2007, MCB reports $4.5 billion in assets under management and a nationwide portfolio totaling approximately 23 million square feet. Its holdings span retail, industrial, office, mixed-use, multifamily and healthcare properties.