Canada-based developer-investor buys Lake Mary’s Colonial TownPark center

Toronto-based North American Development Group expanded its commercial real estate holdings in the Orlando area with a late June purchase of Colonial TownPark in Lake Mary.

NADG, which has a regional office in Miami, paid $60.35 million for the upscale, mixed-use center in the Heathrow area. The seller was New York-based DRA Advisors, according to the deed, executed June 24.

The buyer, under the name Town Park (Orlando) LLC, derived $39 million of the purchase price through a mortgage with Wells Fargo Bank in Fort Lauderdale.

The Canadian firm owns Loop West, a 295,000-square-foot, Class A retail center in Kissimmee, and is building a 300,000-square-foot, big-box shopping center in Daytona Beach.

NADG is also preparing the first phase of retail on a 23-acre undeveloped tract that lies east of Orlando's tourism corridor, but within walking distance of the region's top two luxury hotels.

"We like the market there, we like the location and we think the long-term growth potential is significant there," Jeffrey Preston, head of NADG's Florida office in West Palm Beach, told GrowthSpotter regarding the Heathrow location.

DRA's asset manager, David Leshinsky, could not be reached for comment.

Preston said Colonial TownPark needs little in the way of upgrades, beyond some landscape and "cosmetic" improvements.

The 200-acre Colonial TownPark is located in the bend where Interstate 4 and C.R. 46A meet. Anchored at one end by Publix and at the other by the 12-screen AmStar Cinemas theater, the center advertises 200,000 square feet of retail and 870,000 square feet of Class A office space. The complex also features 80 residences, including loft apartments, and a 131-room hotel.

NADG, founded in 1977 by chairman John W.S. Preston, was primarily a Canadian company until it entered the U.S. market in 1987, acquiring a number of shopping centers in Florida.

Now, the company owns more than 100 shopping centers and 16 million square feet of gross leasable area in both countries. NADG's portfolio also includes about 1,600 undeveloped acres in the United States and Canada that has been acquired for future retail construction.

DRA Advisors, which sold Colonial TownPark, is a real estate investment organization that provides investment and management services for institutional and private investors. DRA has more than $6 billion in assets under management, including 175 shopping centers, 193 industrial properties and 199 office properties.

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