AEW Capital Management, Mack Real Estate Group (MREG) and Soundwater Properties (SWP) have acquired a shopping centre in Florida.
It is the second asset bought by a partnership set up by the three firms to invest in grocery-anchored neighbourhood retail centres in East Coast US markets.
The partnership spent an unspecified amount to acquire Disston Plaza, a 129,150sqft asset in St Petersburg anchored by supermarket chain Publix.
Danny Finkle and Jorge Portela of JLL represented the seller.
The partnership intends to build a portfolio worth approximately $350m (€300m) by acquiring assets valued between $10m and $50m.
George Fryer, director at AEW, said: “This partnership allows AEW to continue targeting necessity-based retail in strong infill locations, a strategy that we believe offers durable cash flow and long-term value.
“We’re seeing consistent tenant demand for neighbourhood retail, particularly centres anchored by top-performing grocers, and we believe that investor appetite will continue to increase for this product profile.”
Richard Mack, CEO of MREG, said: “We believe that retail property fundamentals will continue to remain healthy, especially in grocery-anchored shopping centres. By combining institutional capital with operating expertise, we can create value acquiring and repositioning underinvested assets.”
Chad Bernstein, co-founder and principal at Soundwater Properties, said: “Disston Plaza aligns with our focus on well-located, fundamentally-sound assets where there is a clear path to value creation. Disston Plaza is complementary to our first acquisition in the Raleigh, [North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area], and we look forward to growing the platform with AEW and MREG.”
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