BETHESDA, MD-Local equity REIT Saul Centers (NYSE: BFS) has acquired three grocery-anchored retail centers in the Washington, DC area for a total of $168.5 million. The shopping centers, all of which are anchored by Giant Food, total 635,000 square feet and are 98% leased. Saul Centers did not return a call to GlobeSt.com in time for publication.
One property is Kentlands Square, a 241,000-square-foot property located in Gaithersburg, MD. Constructed in 1993, it is 100% leased and anchored not only by a 61,000-square-foot Giant Food supermarket but also a 104,000-square-foot Kmart. It traded for $74.5 million.
Severna Park, also part of the trio purchased by Saul Centers, is a 254,000-square-foot neighborhood shopping center in Severna Park, MD. It was constructed in 1974 and renovated in 2000. A 63,000-square-foot Giant Food and a 92,000-square-foot Kohl’s anchor the fully occupied property. Its purchase price was $61 million.
We Also Recommend:
The third center, Cranberry Square, is a 140,000-square-foot, 92%-leased shopping center located in Westminster, MD, which sold for $33 million. Besides the 56,000-square-foot Giant Food supermarket, it is also anchored by a 24,000-square-foot Staples.
Saul Centers financed the transaction with $60 million from two secured bridge loans and a $38-million non-recourse permanent loan secured by Severna Park. It also kicked in approximately $17.1 million in cash and borrowings from its line of credit. Finally, it tapped $55.8 million of new equity from its recent issuance of 1.6 million restricted shares of common stock.
Saul Centers has about 58 retail and office/mixed-use properties in its portfolio, the vast majority of which are based in the local area.
Its recent acquisitions point to a specific appetite for retail in the area, although not necessarily only grocery-anchored properties. At the beginning of the year it acquired Metro Pike Center in Rockville, MD, for $33.25 million. A strip mall, Metro Pike's main appeal was likely the 100,000 square feet of potential development close to the White Flint metro station.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
