Williams Family Sells Broward Plaza to Harvest International

Real estate investors Guofeng Ma, Wenrui Ma and Wei Cheng bought a Coral Springs shopping plaza for $26.5 million, amid an uptick in South Florida retail deals. 

Williams Magnolia Properties sold Magnolia Shoppes at 9645 Westview Drive, according to the brokers. 

Moshe Biton of Capital Group Realty and Lena Zubkova of Apogee Realty represented both sides in the off-market deal. 

The selling entity, which ties to Jimmy, Frances and Brian Williams, had paid $23.2 million for Magnolia Shoppes in 2018, records show. Completed in the late 1990s, the plaza spans 114,000 square feet on 12 acres. 

Magnolia Shoppes is fully leased, the brokers said. Tenants include Regal Cinemas, H&R Block, Dollar Tree and shaved ice store Pelican’s SnoBalls.

The recent sale was two years in the making, Biton said. The deal was partly delayed by Regal’s parent company’s bankruptcy filing late last year. London-based cinema Cineworld emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization this month. 

Wei Cheng, as well as Guofeng and Wenrui Ma, have been scooping up Broward County real estate through their Harvest International Investments affiliate. In March, they paid $13.9 million for the Sawgrass Home Design Center at 13001-13191 West Sunrise Boulevard in Sunrise.  

South Florida commercial real estate deals nosedived late last year due to expensive borrowing costs. Retail property sales picked up this summer. 
This month, Edens bought the Shadowood Square plaza at 9789 Glades Road near Boca Raton for $88.4 million, and Benderson Development paid $7.1 million for the Publix-leased building at 1140 Southwest 36th Avenue in Pompano Beach.