University Marketplace retail center in Pembroke Pines sells for $21.2M

The property is 98 percent leased

UPDATED July 19, 12:15 p.m.: A Pembroke Pines retail center, known as University Marketplace, just sold for $21.25 million.

UMP Real Estate Holding, an entity of the Miami-based Arena Capital Holdings, sold the 150,000-square-foot retail center at 100 South University Drive and 8140, 8330 and 8398 Pines Boulevard for about $142 per square foot.

Cushman & Wakefield marketed the building on behalf of the seller.

The buyer is an affiliate of Elmer, New York-based Bellino Equities, led by Michael and Stephen Bellino, a spokesperson for Arena Capital told The Real Deal. Todd Nepola of Current Capital Real Estate Group represented the buyer. He told TRD that Bellino Equities plans to renovate the property.

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Records show Arena Capital bought the retail center in 2014 for $12.5 million, including an adjacent vacant parcel. That same year the company landed a $9.7 million mortgage from Cantor Commercial Real Estate Lending for the purchase.

The retail center traded for 72 percent more than its 2014 sale price, after renovations including painting and exterior improvements, as well as renewing and adding tenants, which brought occupancy from 90 percent to 98 percent, the Arena spokesperson said. Tenants include the nightclub Cafe Iguana, Beverly’s Pet Center and Fallas Superstore.

A number of projects are in the works in Pembroke Pines.

Just this week, Atlanta-based developer TPA Group announced plans to build a 330,000-square-foot class A office park in Pembroke Pines. Also in the works is Terra Group’s Pembroke Pines City Center, a 47-acre mixed-use project with retail, office and residential components.

Harunobu Coryne contributed reporting.