Publix buys FishHawk location

LITHIA — Publix Super Markets Inc. is continuing its quest to become its own landlord in many locations throughout Florida, closing a deal Friday that gives the supermarket chain ownership of a FishHawk Ranch location.

PSM FishHawk Ranch LLC, a company affiliated with Lakeland-based Publix, paid $16.9 million for a 67,300-square-foot store at 5614 FishHawk Blvd., in Lithia. NAP FishHawk LLC, an affiliate of Cincinnati-based NAP Investments Management Co., sold the store, which was built in 2006, according to Hillsborough County property records. NAP originally purchased the vacant land for the supermarket for $2.5 million in 2004.

The sale represents $251 per square foot.

Publix told investors through a quarterly financial filing last year that it expected to spend $395 million in 2014 on capital expenditures, including new supermarkets, remodeling existing supermarkets, construction of new warehouses, new or enhanced information technology hardware and applications, and the acquisition of shopping centers with Publix as the anchor tenant.

Those shopping center purchases are financed internally, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and sometimes with assumed debt.

Of the nearly 54 million square feet of shopping center space in the greater Tampa Bay area, 8% of it is vacant, according to fourth quarter analysis by CBRE Inc., with no additional space currently under construction. Triple-net lease rates average $14.51 per square foot.