The firm that built Mizner Park in Boca Raton, Fla., in the 1990s has bought it back. CP Group, The Georgetown Company and ACRE, with investment partner StepStone, have acquired the 838,840-square-foot mixed-use district in downtown Boca Raton and plan what they describe as a long-term repositioning of its shops, offices and apartments.
The partners did not disclose a price. The seller was Brookfield Properties, now rebranded as BGRE, which took full ownership of the 30-acre property in 2018, according to The Coastal Star, a local newspaper, which reported that CP Group announced the sale on Nov. 6. JLL’s Danny Finkle, Matt McCormack and Michael Roukis represented the sellers, and a separate JLL team of Danny Kaufman, Preston Bacon and Paul Stasaitis arranged acquisition financing from Blackstone, the buyers said.
What changed hands
According to the buyers’ announcement, Mizner Park includes 268,391 square feet of office space, 276,461 square feet of retail space and 293,988 square feet of residential space in 272 rental units. It sits next to the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the Mizner Park Amphitheater and The Studio at Mizner Park, a live-performance venue, and is less than a five-minute walk from the city’s Brightline rail station, which connects to Miami and West Palm Beach.
The ownership is split by expertise. Georgetown, working with CP Group and ACRE, will lead the repositioning of the streetscape, including the retail tenant and merchandising mix, and help guide a new master plan. ACRE will run the multifamily side, including a planned renovation of the 272 apartments and their amenities. CP Group and Georgetown will manage the office and retail space, and ZRS Management will handle residential operations and leasing. CBRE’s John Criddle, Joe Freitas and Max Pawk will lead office leasing, and Newmark’s Mitch Heifetz and Ariel Schuster will oversee retail leasing.
The partners said planned improvements include building facades, hardscaping, landscaping, wayfinding, back-of-house infrastructure, office common areas and the existing apartments, “all as part of a significant capital improvement strategy.” They did not put a dollar figure on that program or give a timeline.
A homecoming for the original developer
CP Group originally developed Mizner Park between 1991 and 1999, and the buyers’ release calls it one of the nation’s first mixed-use projects. The Coastal Star traces the project to developer Tom Crocker’s Crocker Partners, CP Group’s predecessor.
“Returning to Mizner Park is a homecoming for us, both as its original developer and as a Boca-born firm. We’re reinvesting in our own backyard and in a place we brought to life more than three decades ago,” said Angelo Bianco, managing partner of CP Group.
The purchase follows CP Group’s sale of the 124-acre Boca Raton Innovation Campus, the former IBM campus, after it completed a $100 million capital improvement program there. Related Ross bought that 1.7 million-square-foot property in September, as we reported at the time. The two deals together mark a significant reshuffling of ownership of two of Boca Raton’s best-known commercial properties within roughly two months.
Georgetown brings experience with large mixed-use centers elsewhere, including Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio, and Halcyon in Alpharetta, Ga., as well as 787 Eleventh Avenue in New York and the Campus 244 adaptive-reuse project in Atlanta. Jonathan Schmerin, Georgetown’s managing principal, said the partners want to “strengthen the tenant mix, bring new energy to the property and reinforce its position as one of America’s signature shopping, dining and entertainment destinations,” and that they would share more about their long-term vision “as plans take shape.”
Michael Van Der Poel, founding partner of ACRE, said the firm was “honored to once again partner with StepStone, our longtime co-investment partner.” Alex Abrams, a partner at StepStone, said the investment was made through StepStone’s co-investment program with ACRE.
The city’s role
The deal involved the city as well as the seller. Boca Raton’s Community Redevelopment Agency owns the land under Mizner Park and leases it to the building owner, The Coastal Star reported, and the agency consented in February to transfer those ground leases to four entities led by CP Group. The paper also reported that the property had been neglected in recent years, prompting resident concerns about its appearance and tenant quality.
The buyers said ownership will “collaborate with the City of Boca Raton and its constituents” on the revitalization. Because the CRA owns the land, the city has a direct stake in how the property is redeveloped as the partners’ master plan takes shape. More deal coverage is in our commercial real estate section.
