FORGE ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF PALM PLAZA
Forge Real Estate Partners V, LP, a joint venture between Forge Capital Partners and The Sembler Company, has acquired Palm Plaza Shopping Center, a 133,819 square foot grocery anchored shopping center located in Leesburg, Florida. This is the first asset acquired by the newly established private equity fund and will serve as an anchor for the portfolio.
Palm Plaza is anchored by Publix Super Markets, the most dominant grocer by market share in Florida, and Planet Fitness, one of the largest fitness club franchises in the country. Publix and other nationally recognized tenants occupy 78% of the gross leasable area, with the remaining space leased to a mixture of local restaurant and service-based tenants. The Property and Leesburg are drafting off the enormous success of The Villages, America’s top-selling master-planned community for active adults 55+, now encompassing over 50,000 acres of land and home to 148,000 residents, with new residential growth planned south of State Road 44, five miles west of Palm Plaza. The Property presented an excellent opportunity to acquire a necessity-based retail shopping center in a well-established market, with upside potential through vacant space, mark-to-market, and remerchandising opportunities.
About Forge
Forge Capital Partners is a diversified, commercial real estate investment and investment management company. Forge has built a solid track record as an acquirer and operator of commercial real estate, specializing in socially responsible projects throughout the Southeast. Since 2000, Forge and its principals have successfully sponsored and managed four real estate oriented, closed-end private equity funds, and executed over a billion dollars in retail and multifamily real estate transactions.
About Sembler
The Sembler Company is celebrating over 60 years of creating retail real estate value. Sembler provides a full array of retail real estate services, including development and redevelopment, acquisition, property and asset management, leasing and other related services throughout the Southeastern United States and Puerto Rico. Sembler, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, has developed more than 350 projects totaling 28 million square feet and currently leases and manages 8 million square feet.