Phillips Edison & Company Acquires Alafaya Square in Oviedo, Florida, in Largest Single-Asset Retail Sale in Seminole County History

Phillips Edison & Company has acquired Alafaya Square, a Publix-anchored shopping center in Oviedo, Florida, from a joint venture between MCB Real Estate and an institutional investor. JLL Capital Markets announced the sale Oct. 9, 2026, and described it as the largest single-asset retail transaction in Seminole County history.

JLL represented the seller. The JLL Capital Markets team was led by Executive Managing Director Danny Finkle and Senior Director Jorge Portela, along with Associate Evan Lahr.

Alafaya Square Property Details

Alafaya Square is a 168,532-square-foot neighborhood shopping center at 81 Alafaya Woods Blvd. in Oviedo, within the Orlando metropolitan area. The property sits on approximately 21.1 acres and is 96% occupied.

The center is anchored by a newly rebuilt Publix. Other tenants include Planet Fitness, IHOP, Keller Williams, Froggers Grill & Bar and Arcade Monsters, among others spanning retail, dining, health and wellness, fitness, entertainment and service categories. The property was recently renovated.

Location and Demand Drivers in East Seminole County

Alafaya Square is located in the East Seminole retail corridor, with direct access to Alafaya Trail and proximity to State Road 434 and State Road 417. It is near the University of Central Florida, one of the nation's largest universities, as well as the Central Florida Research Park and Florida's High Tech Corridor.

JLL said those institutions support a large base of students, faculty, technology firms, defense contractors and professional workers that generate consistent demand for retail and service businesses in the area.

"Alafaya Square brought together many of the characteristics investors are seeking today: a dominant grocery anchor, meaningful recent capital investment and a location surrounded by long-term residential and employment growth," said Portela.

Phillips Edison & Company's Grocery-Anchored Strategy

Phillips Edison & Company, known as PECO, owns and operates grocery-anchored neighborhood shopping centers. Founded in 1991, the company lists Kroger, Publix, Albertsons and Ahold Delhaize among its top grocery anchors. As of June 30, 2026, PECO managed 330 shopping centers, including 302 wholly owned centers totaling 33.9 million square feet across 31 states and 28 centers owned in three institutional joint ventures.

PECO's second-quarter 2026 operating data showed leased portfolio occupancy of 97.3%, leased anchor occupancy of 98.4% and inline occupancy of 95.5%. Same-center net operating income rose 3.8% year over year, and the company executed 304 leases. Grocery-anchor sales reached $755 per square foot, up 44% from 2019 levels.

The company reported second-quarter Nareit FFO of $93.7 million, or $0.67 per diluted share, and Core FFO of $95.5 million, or $0.69 per share. Nareit FFO per share increased 8.1% year over year, while Core FFO per share rose 7.8%.

PECO acquired $141.4 million of assets across five shopping centers during the second quarter of 2026.

MCB Real Estate and JLL's Orlando Activity

MCB Real Estate, founded in 2007, is a privately held national commercial real estate investment management and development firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The firm reports $4.5 billion in assets under management totaling approximately 23 million square feet, with almost 6 million square feet in its development pipeline. Its property types include industrial, office, retail, mixed-use, multifamily and healthcare.

JLL said the Alafaya Square sale continues its momentum in the Orlando metropolitan area, where the firm has completed more than $235 million in grocery-anchored retail transactions year to date in 2026.

Market Context

The transaction adds to grocery-anchored retail activity in Central Florida, where JLL's year-to-date volume and PECO's reported occupancy and sales metrics point to continued investor activity in necessity-based retail centers.