By Joshua Burd
An investment group has acquired a nearly 148,000-square-foot shopping center in Gloucester County as part of a four-state, $100 million portfolio transaction.
The joint venture, which includes DLC and funds managed by DRA Advisors, joined an institutional investment partner in the purchase of Cross Keys Place in the Sewell section of Washington Township. They noted that the 147,694-square-foot property at 141 Tuckahoe Road is anchored by Michaels, Old Navy, Petco and the most-visited Edge Fitness in New Jersey.
The portfolio acquisition also includes the 380,479-square-foot Cornerstar shopping center in Aurora, Colorado, which is anchored by Target, Marshalls, HomeGoods, 24 Hour Fitness, Nike and Ulta, according to a news release DLC has executed a lease and will be adding a specialty grocer to the tenant mix immediately after acquisition.
“While overall market transaction volume has declined in 2023, DLC has made numerous acquisitions through our proven off-market sourcing and our abundant access to both debt and equity capital,” said Adam Ifshin, founder and CEO of DLC. “We saw a tremendous opportunity in this deal to expand our national presence through the acquisition of great assets — and we’ve already mitigated much of the investment’s operational risk by pre-leasing many of the box vacancies as well as numerous inline spaces.”
The third and fourth properties in the deal are the 34,674-square-foot Shops at Prescott Gateway in Arizona and Powell Center near Columbus, Ohio, which spans 201,970 square feet with national tenants including Marshalls, HomeGoods, Michaels, and Staples and is located close to Ohio State University and the regional headquarters of JP Morgan Chase.
Powell Center was 53 percent occupied at the time of the deal, DLC said, noting that it has plans for an immediate redevelopment featuring new national tenants.
“DLC has structured and completed an acquisition that will deliver very strong, above-market returns,” said Jonathan Wigser, DLC’s executive vice president and chief investment officer. “Even in today’s challenging lending environment, DLC secured accretive loans on each of the four properties.”
Vice President of Acquisitions Aaron Wu added: “DLC was able to source and close this portfolio transaction on an off-market basis given its relationship and track record with the seller and lenders. We continue to seek other acquisition opportunities in the current environment.”
DLC is a private retail real estate company headquartered in Elmsford, New York, while DRA Advisors LLC is a New York-based registered investment adviser with offices in Miami and San Francisco.
“We are excited to continue growing our national joint venture platform with DLC through this attractive, off-market retail portfolio acquisition,” said Brett Gottlieb, managing director of DRA Advisors.
