The centers include a vacant 55,000-sf former Ames store. Cedar has negotiated the termination of an existing lease with Food Lion, which has occupied approximately 29,000 sf and intends to redevelop the centers to include a new 55,000-sf supermarket. It will then re-lease the space Food Lion is vacating.

The Hamburg acquisition follows by less than a month Cedar's acquisition of the adjacent Lake Raystown and Huntingdon Plaza properties in Huntingdon, PA. They have an aggregate of 225,139 sf with room for additional growth of at least 58,000 sf, and they also suffer from existing vacancies.

These four acquisitions, along with three other Pennsylvania properties acquired during the first quarter, add up to a total investment of $60 million in acquisitions this year for Cedar. That puts the company on target with the amount it projected for acquisitions in 2004. The other three properties are in Carbondale, Dubois and Indiana, PA.

All seven are among at least 10 Cedar-owned centers slated for redevelopment. Leo Ullman, CEO, says, "We believe that our redevelopment plans …, representing estimated total costs of more than $65 million, and involving at least 10 of the company's 28 properties, will contribute materially to increasing shareholder value." In all, Cedar's properties aggregate more than four million sf. The overwhelming majority are multi-tenant, supermarket-anchored shopping centers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Connecticut.