MULTI COUNTY: Lakeland, Charlotte County centers sell to Miami investor

BUYER: JLJI PC LLC (manger: Jeff Morr), Miami Beach
SELLER: Promenades Building Owner LLC
PROPERTY: 3280 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte
PRICE: $21.5 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $15.5 million, May 2011

BUYER: JLJI LL LLC (manger: Jeff Morr), Miami Beach
SELLER: Highlands Plaza Building Owner
PROPERTY: 2900 Lakeland Highlands Road and additional land on Edgewood Drive South, Lakeland
PRICE: $7.5 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $4.25 million, March 2013
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Bass Berrry & Sims PLC, Memphis

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Companies led by Jeff Morr of the Miami area purchased two Winn-Dixie-anchored shopping centers for $29 million.

The combined price equated to $87 per square foot. That figure is less than the two-year average price per square foot for retail space ($129 and $150 respectively) in the Tampa Bay area and in Southwest Florida, according to the CoStar Group.

Morr's purchase entity acquired the 230,704-square-foot Promenades in Port Charlotte for $21.5 million. He bought the 102,572-square-foot Highlands Plaza in Lakeland for $7.5 million.

Promenades is a 26.4-acre mixed-use retail center with two outparcel pads for future development. It was built in 1976 and renovated in 2009. Along with Winn Dixie, the development also houses Bealls Outlet, Tuesday Morning, YouFit Health Club, Fawcett Memorial and the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

The 15.68-acre Highlands Plaza contains Florida Speech and Wellness Center, Fantastic Sam's, Highlands MRI and Music Go Round. It also has two outparcels for future development. The center was constructed in 1988.

The two-property portfolio was 87.3% leased at the time of the sale.

Morr is the broker and real estate investor who founded the Miami Beach real estate brokerage Majestic Properties in 1995 and sold it to the Douglas Elliman brokerage in 2014.

Morr says he decided to buy the portfolio after selling off another building he had owned for several years. What enticed him, he says, was the centers' potential, particularly given their undeveloped outparcels.

“Our first step right now is to clean them up and invest some money in things like landscaping and signage,” Morr says.

An HFF team, led by Daniel Finkle, Luis Castillo and Nat Scarmazzi, represented the sellers, Mount Kellett Capital Management LP and Morning Calm Management LLC.