Golden Acres Shopping Center at Park Avenue and Oak Tree Avenue in South Plainfield — Courtesy: JLL
By Joshua Burd
A joint venture has acquired a nearly 220,000-square-foot shopping center in South Plainfield for $40 million, brokers with JLL announced Thursday.
The listing team said the buyers, Agus Holdings and Treeco, completed the deal for Golden Acres Shopping Center as both a value-add opportunity and a stable investment with a highly successful ShopRite as its anchor tenant. The property at Park Avenue and Oak Tree Avenue is 83 percent leased overall, the brokers said, generating 3.3 million visits annually to make it among the most heavily trafficked retail centers in New Jersey.
JLL’s Jose Cruz, J.B. Bruno, Kevin O’Hearn, Michael Kavaler and Joseph Lopresti represented the undisclosed seller.
“Golden Acres Shopping Center represents a truly rare opportunity to acquire an asset with the highly sought-after combination of near-term mark-to-market potential and a top performing grocery anchor in a strong market,” Bruno said. “With significantly below-market anchor and shop tenant rents, the property offers compelling (net operating income) growth potential.”
In announcing the deal, JLL noted that Park Avenue and Oak Tree Avenue see 15,000 and 23,000 vehicles per day, respectively, providing strong visibility and accessibility in an area with limited retail competition. The ShopRite opened in 2016, while other tenants at the 219,848-square-foot center include Shoppers World, Unique Thrift Store and a highly visible Wendy’s outparcel.
“The South Plainfield submarket has an average retail occupancy of 97.8 percent with limited new deliveries over the past decade,” Cruz said. “This high barrier to entry location combined with the property’s long-tenured occupancy made it an attractive investment for Agus Holdings and Treeco.”
