By Mary Hladky
Mizner Park is for sale.
Its owner, Brookfield Properties, offered to sell the iconic downtown retail and restaurant destination in October.
At least three potential buyers want to acquire the property, said Glenn Gromann, a former Boca Raton Planning and Zoning Board member who has seen the offering memorandum and is keeping abreast of developments.
While he could not disclose their names, Gromann said in late February that Brookfield is close to making a decision.
The Real Deal newsletter, which first reported on the sale, said offers have been submitted for as much as $290 million.
Gromann said he thought the property — which contains 255,168 square feet of retail, 250,000 square feet of office space and a 272-unit apartment building — could command an even higher price.
“People who want to buy it would do so for redevelopment,” he said.
A spokesman for Brookfield did not respond to an email from The Coastal Star asking why the company wanted to sell now and what offers it had received. Danny Finkle, the broker on the sale who is senior managing director of the Miami office of the commercial real estate services company JLL, also did not respond.
Mizner Park last went on the market in 2016, but it was pulled off after pricing fell short of expectations, The Palm Beach Post reported at the time.
Brookfield owns most of the buildings in Mizner Park. Boca Raton’s Community Redevelopment Agency owns the land underneath them and Brookfield leases it.
The resolution of litigation between the city and Brookfield, in which Brookfield prevailed, might have played a role in the company’s decision to seek a buyer for Mizner Park now.
In 2016, Mizner Park was owned by General Growth Properties. New York-based Brookfield, which had owned about one-third of GGP, gained full control in 2018 for $9.25 billion.
At the time Mizner Park was developed, the city granted whoever owns the buildings on a large portion of the land the right to purchase that land, beginning in 2016.
Brookfield notified the CRA in 2018 that it was considering exercising the option to buy. But before it did, it wanted to be certain that the company and the city were in agreement on how to calculate fair market value.
Brookfield wanted the fair market value to be low, based on current Mizner Park buildings and tenants. That would result in a low purchase price.
The city wanted the fair market value to be high, based on how the property could be redeveloped. That would mean a higher purchase price and more revenue for the city.
When the two sides could not resolve the matter, Brookfield sought a judge’s interpretation of the land lease agreement.
A circuit judge’s ruling in favor of Brookfield created certainty for potential Mizner Park buyers. The Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld that ruling one year ago. The Florida Supreme Court declined to hear the matter.
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