Bridgewater Commons in Bridgewater — File photo/Courtesy: Trademark Property Co.
By Joshua Burd
A real estate firm focused on large retail properties has acquired Bridgewater Commons, with plans to create a vibrant, mixed-use destination around the 1.2 million-square-foot mall.
The deal by Pacific Retail Capital Partners, which is based in Los Angeles, also includes the adjacent open-air, 94,000-square-foot complex known as The Village at Bridgewater Commons. The company paid an undisclosed price for the 35-year-old mall property — which sits at the junction of Route 22, Route 202/206 and Interstate 287 — marking its first deal in New Jersey after having repositioned large-format, retail-led assets in other markets.
Bridgewater Commons is currently home to more than 150 brands, including Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Apple, J. Crew, lululemon athletica, Williams-Sonoma, The Cheesecake Factory and AMC Dine-In Theatres, PRCP said.
“The acquisition of Bridgewater Commons represents another important step in our ongoing efforts to acquire well-located, quality retail centers in fundamentally strong markets that will enable us to thoughtfully evolve them into market-leading mixed-use assets,” said Steve Plenge, the firm’s CEO. “While we will continue to pursue strategic joint ventures and other partnership structures to execute our long-term strategy, we will also seek to own more properties outright, such as Bridgewater Commons, providing us with even greater optionality when it comes to repositioning and monetizing assets.”
PRCP did not include additional details about its plan, but will likely have to pursue entitlements for uses beyond brick-and-mortar retail. It also figures to become the latest operator seeking to reposition a traditional shopping mall in New Jersey and nationally, in an asset class in which many properties have become obsolete or overbuilt.
In a news release Monday, PRCP said it has assumed Bridgewater Commons’ existing loan and secured an extension that “will provide the company with sufficient time to execute its plan to transform the mall into a vibrant mixed-use destination.” The firm added that, as with its other projects, it “is committed to working closely with local officials and community members in order to help revitalize Bridgewater Commons and create a destination that will continue to be an anchor for the market for years to come.”
Its experience in revamping large-format, retail-led properties into multiuse assets include a current project at The Galleria at White Plains in White Plains, New York, in partnership with Cappelli Organization and SL Green. PRCP also pointed to a project at Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois, where it acquired the former Carson’s anchor box and is transforming it into a mixed-use destination by adding more than 600 multifamily units and a park.
It’s doing so thanks in part to what it described as a vertically integrated platform that allows the company to maintain full control over its master-planned projects as it works with the community and secures approvals.
“This transaction is a perfect example of how we are able to use our industry relationships and expertise to identify investment opportunities that we are uniquely positioned to execute on,” said Oscar Parra, PRCP’s chief financial officer. “The way we were able to structure this transaction together with Bridgewater Commons’ existing cash flow provides us with the time and resources required to deliver a well-conceived master plan.”
