PHILADELPHIA — JLL has negotiated the $114.2 million sale of a portfolio of five grocery-anchored retail centers in the Philadelphia area.
The properties include Lionville Shopping Center in Lionville, located west of the city; Marketplace at Westtown in West Chester, another western suburb; Spring Towne Center in Sinking Spring on Philadelphia’s northwestern outskirts; Dreshertown Plaza in Dresher, located just inside the northern ring of Interstate 276; and Limerick Crossing in Limerick, another northwestern suburb.
The grocery anchor for Lionville Shopping Center, Marketplace at Westtown and Spring Towne Center is Giant Food Stores, while Lowe’s Home Improvement is a second anchor at Spring Towne Center. George’s Marketplace is the anchor grocer at Dreshertown Plaza, and German discount grocer Aldi anchors Limerick Crossing.
Chris Munley, Jim Galbally, Colin Behr and James Graf of JLL marketed the portfolio for sale on behalf of the seller, locally based development and investment firm Brandolini Cos.
Jon Mikula, Jim Cadranell, Michael Pagniucci and Carlos Silva of JLL arranged five fixed-rate acquisition loans totaling $80.5 million on behalf of the buyer, a partnership between New Jersey-based Paramount Realty Services and international investment firm Medipower Group. A trio of undisclosed banks provided the financing.
“We continue to see a significant increase in demand for grocery-anchored shopping centers,” says Galbally. “Investor interest for retail— specifically grocery-anchored shopping and dominant power centers — greatly increased in late 2020 and throughout 2021.”
“The Philadelphia MSA continues to remain hyperactive in the retail sector,” says Behr of the capital markets team. “It was a very strong first half of the year, with our team closing deals for 16 retail assets, and we anticipate the second half of the year to be just as active as we see fresh capital entering the market.”
According to JLL’s research, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last March, consumer spending on groceries eclipsed spending on eating out in restaurants for the first time in 2015, a trend that held throughout the remainder of 2020. In addition, online grocery sales grew by more than 50 percent year-over-year in 2020.
Consequently, the report’s authors expect single-tenant grocery properties and grocery-anchored centers under 100,000 square feet to be among “the most sough-after asset classes during the recovery,” and for cap rates in these spaces to compress significantly over the next 12 to 18 months.
— Taylor Williams