Publix Buys Jacksonville Shopping Center For $11.7M

Publix Super Markets has paid $11.7 million for Reedy Branch Commons, a shopping center at 10920 Baymeadows Rd. in Jacksonville, Fla., that’s anchored by one of its grocery stores.

The Jacksonville Business Journal reports that Karl Johnston, senior director of the capital markets group for Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc. in Jacksonville, represented the seller, BlackRock Inc., in the transaction.

Reedy Branch Commons is a 75,900-s.f. center that is 96 percent occupied.

“For the most part, (Publix) leases space,” Johnston is quoted in the Journal as saying. “But they have been a very active buyer of quality shopping centers in the last few years.”

Publix owns four other centers in the Jacksonville area, according to Orlando-based Crossman & Co., the commercial real estate firm that handles the leasing for its centers.

Its Jacksonville holdings are Publix at Arlington River at 5858 Atlantic Blvd.; Deerwood Village at 9964 Old Baymeadows Rd.; Middle Beach Commons at 408 Beach Blvd.; and Oakleaf Plantation Center at 9518 Argyle Forest Blvd.