Rooms To Go has acquired two retail buildings in Kendall, Florida, with plans to redevelop the site into one of its largest furniture showrooms. The company paid $29.9 million for the 55,824-square-foot property at 2405 Southwest 88th Street, according to public records and data from Vizzda. This price represents a significant increase over the previous sale price of $12 million in 1998.
Peter Weitzner, Vice President at Rooms To Go, told The Real Deal: “It’s a brand new prototype. We are going to demolish what is there and build a huge Rooms To Go store.”
The seller was an affiliate of Light Properties based in Lawrence, New York. The buildings on the 3.8-acre site were completed in 1996 and had previously been leased to Michaels and Barnes & Noble but are currently vacant.
Miami-Dade County approved plans submitted by Rooms To Go earlier this year to replace the existing structures with a new 51,662-square-foot showroom. Weitzner said that the facility will be one of the retailer’s new superstores and will include dedicated sections for Rooms To Go Kids and Rooms To Go Patio products. Standard locations for the company are typically around 40,000 square feet.
Construction is expected to begin next year with an anticipated opening date in 2027. Founded in 1990, Rooms To Go operates more than 150 stores across ten states.
The South Florida retail sector has seen several large transactions involving big box stores this year. In January, RK Centers bought a single-story building in Pembroke Pines for $15.2 million; City Furniture continues as a tenant under a long-term lease (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/01/24/rk-centers-buys-pembroke-pines-furniture-store-for-15m-city-furniture-stays-as-tenant/). In June, Simon Property Group purchased a ground lease for a JCPenney store at Dadeland Mall for $15.6 million (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/06/11/simon-property-group-buys-jcpenney-at-dadeland-mall-for-16m/) and also acquired a closed Sears location at Town Center at Boca Raton for $23 million (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/06/25/simon-property-group-buys-shuttered-sears-at-town-center-at-boca-raton-for-23m/). That same month saw EOS Wellness Real Estate Miami LLC pay $28.5 million for another vacant retail property formerly leased to Office Depot in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour area (https://therealdeal.com/miami/commercial-real-estate-miami-tri-county-market-report/#retail).
Weitzner stated that Rooms To Go expects construction on its Kendall project to start next year with completion targeted for 2027.
