HERNDON, VA., AND FORESTVILLE, MD. — Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT), in conjunction with Bentall Kennedy, has purchased two shopping centers in the Washington, D.C., metro area for $122.6 million.
In Herndon, MEPT acquired the 137,028-square-foot Woodland Park Crossing, located on Sunrise Valley Drive, from JBG Rosenfeld. Harris Teeter anchors the center, which is 97.5 percent leased to tenants including Starbucks, Panera Bread, Pei Wei, Capital One Bank, Bubble’s Hair Salon, Medifast, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Finnegan’s Bar & Grill and Moby Dick. Woodland Park Crossing is part of a mixed-use development and is adjacent to the 2 million-square-foot Woodland Park Office Park and the 200-unit Monroe Place Apartments. JBG Rosenfeld Retail will lease and manage the property. Eastdil Secured represented the seller in the transaction.
In a separate transaction, MEPT purchased the 387,028-square-foot Penn Mar Shopping Center, located at 2950 Donnell Dr. in Forestville, from a partnership between Rappaport Cos. and Lehrco. Shoppers Food & Pharmacy anchors the 95 percent-leased center. Other tenants include Burlington Coat Factory, Dollar Tree, Staples, Party City and Petco. Rosenthal Properties will lease and manage Penn Mar Shopping Center. Bill Kent of CBRE’s Washington, D.C., office represented the seller in the transaction.
“We believe consumer demand for necessity goods will continue to drive sales growth at grocery-anchor, neighborhood centers such as Woodland Park Crossing and Penn Mar Shopping Center,” said David Antonelli, executive vice president at Bentall Kennedy, in a statement. “As a result, we believe these properties are a great fit for MEPT’s portfolio, especially since they are located in submarkets in the Washington, D.C., area with solid demographics and attractive long-term growth prospects.”
This is not the first large transaction for MEPT recently. In August, MEPT purchased a 10-property portfolio of shopping centers in the Southeast and Texas from BVT for $130 million. At the end of September, the company acquired 200 West Madison, an office building in Chicago, for $217.5 million. Additionally, last week MEPT obtained the 1.1 million-square-foot Newport Tower in Jersey City for $377.5 million.
MEPT is a $5.3 million open-end commingled real estate equity fund that has invested in institutional-quality real estate assets in 30 major metropolitan markets in the U.S. Three entities manage the company: NewTower Trust Co. is the trustee of the fund; Bentall Kennedy acts as real estate investment advisor; and Landon Butler & Co. provides investor relations and marketing services.
— Savannah Duncan