Grocery-anchored center sells for $12.3 million

LAKELAND—A Polk County shopping center has been sold for $12.3 million to an unidentified buyer.

Imperial Plaza, on Havendale Boulevard in Auburndale outside of Lakeland, is anchored by a Winn-Dixie grocery store and its tenants include Harbor Freight, O'Reilly Auto Parts and Fresenius.

The sale was part of a 1031 exchange after the owner sold eight National Tire and Battery locations. The plaza was the replacement property, according to a press release from Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, which represented the buyer in the sale.

A spokeswoman for Matthews says in an email that “the buyer is a private family office out of West Palm Beach.”

“We aren't able to identify them publicly,” she writes.

Polk County property records haven’t been updated online to reflect the sale, but the previous owner is listed as Core Imperial Plaza LLC, which is a part of Arkansas-based Core Equity Partners.

Core Imperial Plaza, according to county property records, bought the property January 2020 for $9.06 million.

A July 29 post on Core’s website written by Drew Angel, managing partner for Core Imperial, says “we were able to invest in the property and give it the facelift that it needed.” 

“This led to some quick leasing activity and an uptick in tenant sales.”