Bellcrest Plaza at 931 Fischer Blvd. in Toms River — Courtesy: Marcus & Millichap
By Joshua Burd
A real estate firm has acquired 10 retail and medical office properties in Ocean County for $46 million, expanding its footprint in the region by more than 300,000 square feet.
According to Marcus & Millichap, which brokered the sale to Horizon Equities, the portfolio includes a mix of multitenant and single-user, net-leased properties in Toms River and Brick, which are accessible from Route 37, Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway. The largest among them is Bellcrest Plaza, a 105,000-square-foot shopping center at 931 Fischer Blvd. that has RWJBarnabas Health as its anchor.
Marcus & Millichap’s Alan Cafiero, Brent Hyldahl and Seth Goldberg arranged the deal alongside Brad Nathanson of the firm’s Institutional Property Advisors group. They represented the seller, Edele Hovnanian, and procured the buyer of the 310,023-square-foot portfolio.
“Leased to over 100 tenants, the portfolio is 70 percent occupied, giving our buyer stable in-place cash flow and significant value-add potential through lease up of the vacant units, which will immediately boost returns,” said Cafiero, a senior managing director for investments. “Part of the portfolio is in Holiday City, an area of Toms River that caters to a large population of senior citizens. The income from this entire portfolio is diversified by the large number of tenants, which mitigates risk.”
Aside from Bellcrest Plaza, the Toms River properties include:
- Holiday City Plaza I, a freestanding 37,902-square-foot enclosed shopping mall at 730 Jamaica Blvd.
- Holiday City Plaza II, a 37,712-square-foot strip center at 1 Plaza Drive, anchored by Provident Bank
- Holiday City Plaza III, a 43,440-square-foot strip center at 600 Mule Road, anchored by Ivy Rehab
- Holiday City Medical Center, an 18,000-square-foot medical office building at 3 Plaza Drive that is home to 14 tenants and is 85 percent occupied
- 190 St. Catherine Blvd., a 6,470-square-foot, freestanding building occupied by the U.S. Social Security Administration
The single-tenant, net-leased assets are a 14,564-square-foot Rite-Aid at 31 Mule Road, which has about 6.5 years remaining on a 20-year lease term, and a 2,500-square-foot Wells Fargo at 730 Jamaica Blvd., with 7.5 years remaining on the lease and two five-year renewal options, according to a news release. The property for redevelopment is a 2,000-square-foot former PNC Bank at 9 Wrangle Brook Road with a double drive-through and 17 parking spaces.
The lone Brick property is Yorktowne Plaza, a 41,915-square-foot center at 2850 Yorktown Blvd. that is 93 percent occupied by 22 tenants.
The brokerage team noted that the portfolio benefits from strong local demographics in Toms River, Brick and Lakewood, the most populous municipalities in Ocean County, where average annual household income is nearly $100,000.
“Although Horizon Equities is a national firm, we started in New Jersey and have 82 years of family history here,” said Joe Kotler, founder and managing partner of Lakewood-based Horizon. “The people of Central Jersey matter to us and this acquisition reflects our concern. We will continue to invest in local businesses here and work alongside our tenants to upgrade the portfolio for mutual success.”
