Aztec Group Buying Into Fort Lauderdale's $50 Million Riverbend Marketplace

Mayan Properties, the investment arm of real estate merchant banking firm Aztec Group, continues to make significant investments in South Florida’s booming retail sector with a $5 million investment in Riverbend Marketplace, a 190,000-square-foot retail shopping center now under construction in Broward County.
The Riverbend project will bring the first Walmart Supercenter to the city of Fort Lauderdale.
The transaction was led by Jason Shapiro, Managing Director, and James Fried, Director of Investments, on behalf of Mayan Properties, and Sean Harrington, Director of Aztec Group.
Located along heavily-travelled Broward Boulevard just west of the interchange of Interstate 95, the 37-acre, ground-up development Riverbend Marketplace will add a 186,000-square-foot Walmart anchor store that will provide grocery items, fresh produce and general merchandise to the residential base and workforce in the surrounding Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods. Small and mid-size shops and retailers, who will benefit from the high foot traffic Walmart will draw, will comprise the remaining spaces in the shopping complex rising at 2400 W. Broward Blvd.
As the project’s owner, Fort Lauderdale-based Gatlin Development Co. led by prolific developer Frank Gatlin III is building the $50 million, two-phase project. This is Gatlin and Mayan’s second investment venture together in Florida. Last year, Mayan funded $3 million in Gatlin’s Jacksonville portfolio, consisting of three shopping centers anchored by Walmart Neighborhood Markets in Jacksonville.
“As South Florida’s appetite for new retail developments in both suburban and urban neighborhoods continues to intensify, we felt investing in the ground-up development of Riverbend Marketplace was the right move. Mayan’s approach to investing in high-caliber projects led by best-in-class sponsors has demonstrated a long track record of positive returns,” said Jason Shapiro of Mayan Properties. “The long Walmart track record and strong trajectory of Gatlin Development, along with the market dynamics we’re seeing in the Fort Lauderdale area, were important factors in our decision to make this multi-million dollar investment in the project.”
Project construction has already commenced and will continue next year, with completion estimated in late 2015.
“With the Riverbend Marketplace project, we aim to bring an incredible shopping experience that has long been awaited in this area and to create a development that will benefit the local economy,” said James Fried of Mayan Properties. “Our project will signify a lifestyle change, as area workers and local residents will have a full-service shopping center with a national retailer to meet their shopping needs.”