Federal Realty In $32M Queens Retail Sale

FOREST HILLS, NY-Federal Realty Investment Trust has sold two retail buildings here to a group of investors led by local owner Heskel Elias for $32 million. One of the Queens assets is a 17,000-sf building that houses Duane Reade and Staples; the other, 22,500-sf property is home to Gap, as well as additional stores.

Rockville, MD-based Federal Realty is selling the assets, roughly clustered near Queens Boulevard and 71st Avenue, because they are fully matured, John Hendrickson, vice president of investments, tells GSR. “We didn’t see any future growth in these properties,” he says.

The transaction is part of a reverse 1031 exchange involving Shoppers’ World, a center that Federal Realty acquired in May and in which it is reinvesting. That Charlottesville, VA center totals 166,200 sf and is anchored by Whole Foods.

Federal Realty continues to hold on to one building in the area that is leased to Midway Theatre. The company, which operates 19.4-million sf in major metropolitan markets on the coasts, also owns a building in Fresh Meadows in Queens that is anchored by Cineplex Odeon, Filene’s Basement and Kohl’s.

In the summer, Federal Realty sold three non-core assets in New England for $62.9 million.