WHITEHOUSE, OH—Throughout much of this year, the retail sector has buzzed with excitement as some of the lingering effects of the recession wore off and consumer demand returned. And investors like Devonshire REIT, Inc., a Whitehouse, OH-based real estate investment trust, have also stayed quite active.
It just acquired three shopping centers at a total cost of $69.75M: Maple Hill Mall in Kalamazoo, MI; Alpine Summit Shopping Center in Grand Rapids, MI; and Northwest Crossings Shopping Center in Knoxville, TN.
"These centers are perfect fits for our expanding portfolio,” says Mike Denman, executive vice president of real estate operations for Devonshire. “They maintain dominant positions in the primary retail corridors of their respective cities. National credit tenant anchored, with long term leases in place and, except for one small space, 100% occupied. And, with the purchase of Northwest Crossings in Knoxville, we expand our footprint into Tennessee - which has been a long-term goal of the company."
The moves continue what has been an active year. In 2014, Devonshire snapped up retail centers across the Midwest, especially in Ohio. As reported in GlobeSt.com, the trust recently bought the grocery-anchored Pavilion Shopping Center in Beachwood, a suburb of Cleveland, for $35 million. And that purchase came on the heels of its $31 million purchase of five other centers in the Toledo area.
Maple Hill Mall is now a 283,551-square-foot open air power center in Kalamazoo, MI. It once was a 641,625-square-foot center, but fell on hard times after losing several key tenants. After some demolition and a renovation, completed before the recession began, it revived and is now 100% occupied. It is shadow-anchored by Target and Marshalls, Hobby Lobby and Value City Furniture act as sub-anchors. Additional tenants include: Pier 1 Imports, Dollar Tree, rue 21, Five Below, HobbyTown, Kay Jewelers, GNC and Starbucks.
Alpine Summit Shopping Center is a 136,942-square-foot community center in Grand Rapids, MI. Marshalls, HomeGoods and ABC Warehouse anchor the center. Additional tenants include: ULTA, CATO Fashions, Dress Barn, Petco and Party America. Long-time tenant Schuler Books recently left, but HomeGoods took over the space, leaving the center 95% occupied and with only one vacancy.
Northwest Crossings Shopping Center is a 124,453-square-foot community center in Knoxville, TN. A separately owned Wal-Mart Supercenter anchors the center. HH Gregg, Ross Dress for Less and OfficeMax sub-anchor the property. Additional tenants include: DollarTree, CATO Fashions, GNC and Gamestop. This property is also 100% occupied.
The acquisitions push Devonshire's total assets under management to over $370 million and total GLA to over 3.8-million-square-feet.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
