The Gardens on International Drive South in Flanders — Courtesy: JLL
By Joshua Burd
Investment firm Rivani has sold a nearly 168,000-square-foot portfolio of net-leased retail properties in Mount Olive for $27.9 million, according to brokers with JLL.
In a news release, the listing team said the deal comprises nine properties off routes 46 and 206 that make up the power center known as The Gardens. They include a standalone, 135,039-square-foot Lowe’s that anchors the complex and seven pad sites with eight tenants occupying a combined 32,493 square feet.
JLL’s corporate capital markets and net lease team represented Rivani alongside senior managing directors Kevin O’Hearn and Jose Cruz and Senior Director JB Bruno, part of the firm’s Morristown-based capital markets group, noting that the portfolio on International Drive South includes five ground leases and four net leases featuring prominent national tenants.
“The Gardens Portfolio represented an exceptional opportunity to acquire long-term ground leases and net leases with high-quality, credit tenants,” O’Hearn said. “The property’s strategic location in an underserved retail market combined with its stable cash flow profile with mid-term upside potential made it an attractive acquisition for the buyer.”
Aside from Lowe’s, the site is also home to Applebee’s, LongHorn Steakhouse, Panera Bread, Wells Fargo, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Panda Express and Chipotle with a weighted average lease term of about 11.8 years. Some 64 percent of the annualized base rent is derived from ground leases, JLL said, adding that The Gardens ranks in the top 6 percent of the most-visited shopping centers in New Jersey and across the U.S.
The center also recently underwent renovations and new tenant additions, with annual visits to the complex up by more than 1 million since March 2023, the news release said. The portfolio appeals to a wide trade area given the scarcity of power centers serving the area and its proximity to four major state highways.
Rivani, formerly Black Lion Investment Group, acquired the former ITC Crossing South property in late 2021 as part of a deal that included additional retail space at the site.
