BIRMINGHAM, AL-An Atlanta-based investment group has moved into the region, armed with a $22-million acquisition and value-add plan for the 245,000-sf Palisades Shopping Center. The deal has closed now that the seller has wed Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to a long-dark grocery box.

In back-to-back sales, Victory Real Estate Investments LLC of Columbus, GA has passed a 45,000-sf block to Wal-Mart for a Neighborhood Market and the lion's share of the class B retail space at 500 Palisades Blvd. to Impressa Group, which is joint venturing with two private investors on the repositioning. "Our sale was contingent upon Wal-Mart buying its space," Impressa's Robert Hultslander tells GlobeSt.com.

Impressa spent $20 million to buy the 20-year-old center. It's earmarked $2 million for the asset's first renovation and leasing reserve, according to Hultslander. The buyer secured $22 million in financing for 95% of the cost from a Philadelphia-based senior lender and Atlanta-based mezzanine supplier.

"We are just in the process of pulling together our strategy," Hultslander says.

Impressa's plan calls for creating five out-parcels from the parking lot of the 28-acre shopping center and cosmetic upgrades to round out the changes. A tweak to the name also is being weighed.

Hultslander says Impressa's 55 tenant spaces are 82% occupied, with eight leases slated to roll within six months. The largest tenant--Virginia College--has 100,000 sf locked down for the lock term. Wal-Mart has jumped into gutting the former Winn-Dixie grocery, which closed in late 2005, but has yet to declare when doors will open on the Neighborhood Market.

Hultslander says upside clearly lies in the in-place, below-market rents. The center's shop space ranges from $8 per sf to $12 per sf versus the submarket's spread of $12 per sf to $15 per sf. Other name tenants are CiCi's Pizza, Century 21 and Enterprise Rent-a-Car and the usual mix of neighborhood services.

Hultslander says the investment group, which owns multifamily, hotel and retail properties in the Midwest, has mapped out a three-year hold for Palisades Shopping Center. The local offices of Colliers Spectrum Cauble and Retail Specialists Inc. will manage and lease the asset, respectively.