REAL ESTATE - BlackRock Realty and Terranova Corporation have added to their joint venture with the purchase of the 88, 850 s.f. Paraiso Parc in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

The property was purchased for $39m (€29.02m). This asset is a new grocery anchored shopping center. Its anchor tenant is a Publix grocery store. This property is located in one of the strongest retail markets in the country. Retail vacancy in the region is less than 2%.

BlackRock was the main equity source for the deal. The joint venture now owns more than $97m worth of shopping centers in the Broward County area of South Florida. The other property is the 251,750 s.f. Westfork Plaza that was bought for $58.4m in 2005.

BlackRock and Terranova will continue to grow their JV relationship. There is not a set amount of capital that has been established for the venture. Terranova Chairman Stephen Bittel said, "The relationship works more on a deal-by-deal basis. The amount of capital to be invested is unlimited. It likely will continue on a pace of over $100m per year."

BlackRock Realty is the main equity partner for the venture. The real estate manager invests in the venture through its commingled fund called the Granite Property Fund. This entity has a core investment strategy.

Terranova is the operating partner in the JV. It is responsible for finding transactions for the venture and will manage and lease any properties that are acquired.

The total deal volume for the venture now stands at over $220m. The properties in the venture include two office buildings, one industrial park, eight urban retail assets and one shopping center.

The venture looks for a variety of deals. Bittel said, "We will be trying to buy a mixture of retail, office and industrial assets. These would include core, value-added or opportunistic kinds of transactions."

The JV is only looking for assets in Florida. This is a market that Terranova is known for. The company is involved with commercial real estate assets valued at more than $1.5bn. All of them are in South Florida.