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DOWNINGTOWN, PA-Beverly Hills, CA-based Pacific Home Holdings and Pacific Crest Holdings has acquired Ashbridge Square, a 230,000-sf shopping center at 935 Lancaster Pike. The seller is identified as B&S Pike, which is an affiliate of US Realty.

Alon Abady, Pacific's president, declined to disclose the acquisition cost. On condition of anonymity, a retail specialist in suburban Philadelphia says the price tag was just under $50 million, or in the area of $217 per sf.

Pacific has handed management and leasing of Ashbridge to Conshohocken-based Fameco Real Estate. Lawrence Zipf, recently named SVP of owner services at Fameco, heads the effort. He tells GlobeSt.com that Ashbridge was completed in 2000 and is currently 100% leased. The asking rental rate is $18 per sf. A retailer-owned Home Depot anchors the center adding 145,000 sf. Among the major tenants are 46,000-sf Giunta's Market and a 24,000-sf Staples.

Pacific, which currently has retail assets in Nevada, Southern California and Hawaii, is poised to grow coast to coast, Abady tells GlobeSt.com, and the Philadelphia area is a prime target. "We feel the Philadelphia market has the economic parameters we're looking for." He points to the growing housing market in the area and "consumer spending that is above the national average. There is little land available in the Downingtown, West Chester area, so there is little competition for a 47-acre development like Ashbridge. We are actively seeking to acquire smaller or larger properties in that area over the next two years."

Zipf is the former managing director of asset services for CB Richard Ellis in the Philadelphia region and previously was a partner with Jackson Cross Co. At Fameco, he will not only oversee asset management, property and construction management and owner leasing reporting, but also be in charge of the firm's recently acquired national institutional management portfolio, which encompasses retail properties valued at more than $300 million in the West, South Central, Southeast and Midwest. This portfolio more than doubles the assets Fameco manages nationwide, according to Troy Peple, president.

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GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Pacific Crest Buys 230,000-SF Ashbridge Square

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