This Week's Philadelphia Deal Sheet
A fund associated with Kuwait's sovereign investment vehicle has purchased a shopping center in the Philly suburbs.
An affiliate fund of Wafra Inc. has purchased Airport Square, a nearly 300K SF power center at 801 Bethlehem Pike in the Montgomery County township of North Wales. The seller is an affiliate of Boston-based retail landlord The Wilder Cos. according to property records, which have not yet been updated to reflect the sale.
Airport Square, which sits across Bethlehem Pike from Montgomery Mall, is 98% occupied and anchored by three different subsidiaries of TJX Cos.: Marshalls, TJ Maxx and HomeGoods. A JLL Retail Capital Markets team represented the seller for the center, which was built in 1982 and sits on more than 41 acres of land.
LEASING
Industrial investor Newland Capital Group has signed an unnamed tenant to a lease at a 1.2M SF distribution center for which it has yet to even break ground. Newland, represented by JLL, acquired an 85-acre plot of land in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, a town in Northeast Pennsylvania that sits off interstates 80 and 380, and immediately secured the lease on the understanding that construction would begin in October and finish in early 2024.
Silverstein Properties and Arden Group, the joint venture that owns 1735 Market St., have signed five leases totaling 75K SF at the Center City office tower that is a recognizable piece of Philly's skyline. UBS Financial Services signed the largest of the five, taking 23K SF on a 10-year, 10-month lease to relocate from elsewhere in the building to the 44th floor. Capital One has also signed a nine-year, 22K SF lease to place an "innovation center" in the building, relocating some office functions from the suburbs.
SALES
Atlantic Realty Cos. has sold Newark Shopping Center, a 145K SF neighborhood center, anchored by the locally owned Newark Natural Foods grocery store since the 1960s, for $33.5M to a private buyer. The 93% leased center at 230 East Main St. also contains a five-screen movie theater called Main Street Movies, and a Dollar Tree. Neuman Commercial Group arranged the transaction on behalf of Atlantic.
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Quartermaster Plaza has been identified as one of the retail properties acquired by a joint venture of DRA Advisors and KPR Centers in the purchase of a portfolio sold by Cedar Realty Trust as part of the latter's winding down of assets and takeover by Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. Anchored by a BJ's Wholesale Club and a Home Depot, the 456K SF center in South Philadelphia sold for $100.1M, a hefty portion of the $879M that the JV paid Cedar for a total of 33 centers.
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Ciocca Dealerships, a Pennsylvania-focused chain with nearly 50 locations, has acquired a 23.5K SF industrial building at 9986 Gantry Road in Northeast Philadelphia to convert into a collision center, which would be its 11th. Colliers Senior Vice President Rich Weitzman represented Ciocca, while MPN Realty associate Roman Melnyk represented the seller, listed in property records as C&M Best Choice LLC.
FINANCING
Alterra Property Group has refinanced its most recently completed apartment building, a 410-unit property with 108K SF of ground-floor commercial space known as LVL North and located at 510 North Broad St., for $150M. The five-year, floating-rate loan was provided by Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking and arranged by JLL Capital Markets.
LVL North, which was built using Alterra's preferred method of modular construction, counts a Giant grocery store as its retail anchor tenant and has a 289-space underground parking garage. The project began work in 2020 with a $120M construction loan from Bank of the Ozarks and cost $180M to build, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports.
PEOPLE
Commercial real estate-focused investment bank Greysteel has hired Christopher Farmer to serve as a director of investment sales and capital markets at its Philadelphia office. Farmer most recently worked at Berkadia as an associate director, and will also join Greysteel's Black Professional Network employee resource group.
