Equity Management Partners buys Largo's Midway Plaza

BUYER: Shops at Midway LLC (manager: Benjamin Mallah), Largo
SELLER: EIG Midway Plaza LLC
PROPERTY: 1301, 1401, 1511 and 1551 Missouri Ave. N., Largo
PRICE: $7.79 million

PROPERTY: southwest corner of Missouri Avenue North and Jasper Street, Largo
PRICE: $1.51 million
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, Fort Wayne, Ind.

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Equity Management Partners purchased the 75,096-square-foot Midway Plaza shopping center for $9.3 million.

The price equated to $124 per square foot. That figure is in line with the two-year average price per square foot for retail space ($129) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The center was 100% leased at the time of the sale. Tenants include TJ Maxx, Dollar Tree, Ross Dress For Less and Shoe Carnival.

Midway Plaza is located north of the larger Publix- and Walmart-anchored Midway Shopping Center.

“What attracted me was being in an area that's turning around in Largo,” says Ben Mallah, principal of Equity Management Partners.

The ownership plans to paint the center and improve the landscaping and parking lot.

The purchase price equated to a pay-off ratio based on income (capitalization rate) of 7.5%.

Equity Management Partners owns and manages a number of apartments, hotels, restaurants and retail statewide, including the Elm Lake apartments in Bradenton; Bay Harbor,
Boardwalk at Morris Bridge and Ramada Westshore in Tampa; Clearwater Hotel; Pelican Walk Plaza in Clearwater and Griffin Park Apartments in Lakeland.

The purchase entity, Shops at Midway LLC, mortgaged the property to Wells Fargo Bank NA for $3.5 million.