Two retail shopping centers anchored by grocery stores in the metro Orlando area recently sold in separate deals — both properties are in Seminole County.
A venture between Bain Capital Real Estate and 11North Partners paid $59.5 million to add West Town Corners in Altamonte Springs to its portfolio of properties in the region. The shopping center anchored by Winn-Dixie is located at 280 S. State Road 434, where it crosses West Town Parkway.
To the north of that, Graphite Real Estate, based in Washington, D.C., paid $14.65 million for the Publix-anchored Shoppes of Sweetwater in Longwood. It’s located at 3857 Wekiva Springs Road, at the intersection of North Hunt Club Boulevard.The property also has a CVS.
The Bain/11North partnership bought West Town from Ohio-based Washington Prime Group, a real estate investment firm founded in 2014 as a spinoff from Simon Property Group. The transaction closed May 6 and was financed in part with a $37.4 million loan from Bank of America.
Graphite bought the 64,253-square-foot Sweetwater from the Shoppes of Sweetwater Inc., whose president is Stephen Korshak, an attorney based in Casselberry. The deal for the 94%-leased center included an outparcel leased to McDonald’s as well as a .58-acre undeveloped outparcel.
Leasing for the center has been handled by CrossMarc Services, whose principal is John Crossman. He has a long history with the property as the leasing agent who brought Publix there in 2002. He will continue to oversee leasing for the new owner.
Public is the anchor tenant at the Shoppes of Sweetwater in Longwood. Graphite Real Estate, based in Washington, D.C., paid $14.65 million to buy the property last month. The retail center’s other tenants include CVS, along with an outparcel with a McDonald’s. (Photo courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield)
11North was asked to comment on its latest acquisition in the region, and in a written statement said that West Town is a well-located, grocery-anchored center serving a strong and growing community.
“We are committed to being a first-class operator and plan to invest in meaningful improvements to the property — enhancing the shopping environment and overall experience for both tenants and the surrounding neighborhood,” the company said. “We look forward to being a long-term steward of this asset.
“We continue to look for other opportunities in Central Florida to add to our growing Florida presence.”
The company said it already has a flurry of new leasing activity driven by the strength of the location, its brand recognition with tenants, and the confidence they have in their commitment to maintaining the property — both operationally and aesthetically.
Cushman & Wakefield, a Chicago-based global commercial real estate services firm with an Orlando office, represented the seller through Mark Gilbert, Adam Feinstein and Mitchell Halpern, of its retail advisory group.
“Korshak acquired this center from a lender in 1997 and did a tremendous job nurturing the property into a highly successful grocery-anchored neighborhood center, with the key addition of backfilling an empty grocery store with Publix,” said Feinstein, executive director at the firm. “This is a perfect deal for Graphite, which looks to acquire well-located Publix-anchored centers that offer a durable income stream, while offering value enhancement opportunities.”
According to JLL, West Town spans almost 29 acres with 284,497 square feet of gross leasable area — equating to a sale price of $209 per square foot. Other major tenants include PetSmart, TJ Maxx and American Signature Furniture. Its website currently lists 12 vacancies at West Town ranging from 1,260-13,224 square feet. Property records show the buildings were constructed in 1989 and 1990.
Danny Finkle and Jorge Portela led the JLL team representing the seller.
“The sale of West Town Corners underscores investor confidence in grocery-anchored necessity-based retail assets located in high-growth markets like Orlando,” Portela said in the news release. “The combination of strong in-place tenancy and lease-up opportunity presented an exceptional value-add profile.”
Bain Capital Real Estate was founded in 2018 as part of Boston-based Bain Capital, a global private investment firm. 11North is a real estate investment firm founded in 2024 and based in New York City.
West Town is not the first Central Florida acquisition by the partnership of Bain and 11North.
In August, the venture acquired 10 shopping centers across Florida and South Carolina in a $395 million deal. There were three Kissimmee properties involved in the off-market deal, including the 159,805-square-foot Rolling Oaks Commons, the 86,007-square-foot The Promenade at Poinciana and the 38,473-square-foot Solivita Marketplace. Southeast Centers previously owned all three properties.
According to Colliers’ capital markets report for first quarter of 2026, sales volume trends continue to favor shopping centers over individual stores — with retail centers consistently outpacing shop assets on a year-over-year basis. This divergence reinforces investor preference for grocery-anchored and necessity-based centers, which have demonstrated greater resilience across cycles.
Brian Bell can be reached at bbell@orlandosentinel.com. Have a tip about Central Florida development? Email Newsroom@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.