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 purchased the properties for $29.9 million, according to records and data from Vizzda. The buildings are located at 2405 Southwest 88th Street and span a combined 55,824 square feet.
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. Records indicate that Light Properties bought the 3.8-acre site for $12 million in 1998. The existing buildings were completed in 1996 and have been vacant since being previously leased to Michaels and Barnes & Noble.
Rooms To Go’s redevelopment plan involves replacing the current structures with a new 51,662-square-foot showroom that will feature both Rooms To Go Kids and Rooms To Go Patio sections. Typical stores operated by the company are about 40,000 square feet.
Miami-Dade County approved the proposed redevelopment plans in January of this year. According to Weitzner, construction is expected to begin next year with an anticipated opening date in 2027.
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Seffner, Florida, Rooms To Go operates more than 150 stores across ten states.
South Florida’s retail sector has seen several large property transactions recently. In January, RK Centers acquired a facility in Pembroke Pines for $15.2 million; City Furniture remains as tenant under a long-term lease agreement (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/01/11/rk-centers-buys-pembroke-pines-furniture-store-for-15m/). In June, Simon Property Group purchased a ground lease for a JCPenney location at Dadeland Mall for $15.6 million (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/06/05/simon-property-group-buys-jcpenney-at-dadeland-mall-for-16m/) and also acquired a former Sears store within Town Center at Boca Raton for $23 million (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/06/19/simon-buys-shuttered-sears-at-town-center-at-boca-raton-for-23m/) . Additionally that month EOS Wellness Real Estate Miami LLC paid $28.5 million for a vacant building previously occupied by Office Depot in Miami Beach’s Sunset Harbour neighborhood (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/06/18/eos-wellness-pays-29m-for-vacant-miami-beach-building-in-sunset-harbour/) .
“It’s a brand new prototype,” said Peter Weitzner of Rooms To Go regarding their future Kendall location.
“We are going to demolish what is there and build a huge Rooms To Go store.”
Weitzner added that the project aims to open its doors by 2027.
