Publix-Anchored Plaza Del Mar Sells for $37M in Palm Beach County

The number of Publix-anchored retail property sales in South Florida has grown again with another real estate investment deal. This time, though, the grocery store chain wasn’t the buyer.

New Jersey-based Garden Commercial Properties acquired the 95,000-square-foot Plaza Del Mar retail property in Manalapan — a wealthy beachside Palm Beach County enclave 11 miles south of Downtown West Palm Beach — for $37 million, or about $390 per square foot.

An entity run by Kitson & Partners sold the asset at 201 South Ocean Boulevard across from Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, according to the Business Journals, which cited data provided by Vizzda.

This is the first time the property traded hands in 18 years after last selling for $37.7 million in November 2006, property records show. Other tenants at Plaza Del Mar, in addition to Publix, include Soma lingerie shop, Illustrated Properties, Art Basil Restaurant, and John G’s Restaurant, per the Business Journals. 

Grocery-anchored retail properties have become one of the safer bets in U.S. commercial real estate since the pandemic, but Publix-leased assets specifically saw an increase in sales over the past year. Most of those purchases were from the Lakeland-based company deciding to acquire at least half a dozen South Florida retail properties at which it is a tenant.

Last month, Publix acquired a strip mall where it’s the anchor tenant along Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami. It was at least the sixth such deal in 2024, amounting to almost $200 million in user investment sales.

Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.