HAGERSTOWN, MD—Sales of neighborhood shopping centers in the Washington DC region's secondary submarkets have been proceeding at a nice clip – nice enough, in fact, for one broker to dub these sales a trend.

Recently, when the Greysteel Co.'s Mid-Atlantic retail investment sales team marketed the South End Shopping Center, a 146,000-square foot retail property here, it received multiple offers, says Managing Director Gil Neuman. The fact that a number of bidders were interested in a "circa-1962" property, "substantiates a retail investment trend back into secondary markets." The property, which was 83% occupied at the time, traded for $9 million to EH Scott LLC.

Greysteel also brokered another regional trade illustrating this point: Inland Real Estate Group's purchased of the Giant Foods-anchored New Town Village Center in Ownings Mills, Md., for $31.68 million.

Retail leasing in these submarkets are also proceeding at a steady clip, if the anecdotal evidence offered up by H&R Retail recently is any indication.

The company reports that it has signed eight leases totaling 29,700 square feet recently. Capital Discount's 13,392-square foot lease at Hillcrest Heights Shopping Center in Hillcrest, Md., comprised most of that activity. Another deal was inked by the Long Neck Diner for 5,720-square feet at North Village Shopping Center in Hagerstown.

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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.