Jamestown's Grocery-Anchored Play in South Florida

National investor Jamestown's just closed on its seventh Publix-anchored retail property in Florida. The company owns some iconic properties nationwide, but it's also fond of bread-and-butter assets (with no interest in the Atkins business model), and it's in Florida on the hunt for more.

Even though the recession is (mostly) over and grocery-anchored centers aren’t the darlings they were during the darkest days of the slump, Jamestown COO Michael Phillips tells us that the company is committed to properties that meet the needs of local residents—that’ll be a solid play regardless of the economy, which is guaranteed to slump again sometime anyway. Besides its most recent acquisition, Jamestown's portfolio of six Publix-anchored shopping centers in South Florida totals about 1.2M SF. “South Florida’s always been an important market for us,” Michael says.

Landmarks in Atlanta-based Jamestown's portfolio include Chelsea Market and One Times Square in New York, Ponce City Market in Atlanta, and Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. All well and good, but it loves well-anchored retail and mixed-use, too. The recently acquired Florida asset is the 169k SF Village Commons at 701-971 Village Blvd in West Palm Beach. The property is 92% occupied and contains a mix of retail, restaurant, medical, banking, and other service tenants. Jamestown is planning more than $4M in capital improvements to the property.