ATLANTA—Village at Westfork, a 75,947-square-foot, Kroger-anchored neighborhood retail center in Lithia Springs, GA, has traded hands. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Katz Properties purchased the asset free and clear of existing debt. HFF brokered the sale and placed the 10-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan with Ladder Capital Finance. The HFF debt placement team representing the borrower was led by senior director Chip Sykes.

“Village at Westfork represented a rare opportunity to acquire a dominant, high-performing Kroger-anchored shopping center in one of the fastest-growing submarkets of the Atlanta MSA,” says HFF managing director Jim Hamilton. Hamilton and HFF senior managing director Richard Reid, along with associates Brad Buchanan and Mike Allison also worked on the multifamily deal.

The center sits on 10.17 acres at 610-640 Thornton Road at the “main and main” intersection of Thornton and Maxham Roads in Lithia Springs. Completed in 1995 and renovated in 2006, Village at Westfork is fully leased to a variety of national and regional tenants, including Kroger, Kroger Fuel, Atlanta Wings, Cricket Wireless, Randstad Staffing, Top Nails, H&R Block, Enve Hair Salon and New China.

Village at Westfork is the dominant grocery-anchored center. There are only two other grocers within a three-mile radius of the property.

There are thousands of strip shopping centers in the US where grocery chains currently serve as anchors. If Amazon runs these grocery chains out of business, will there be a domino effect on the other stores at these strip centers? Will property owners struggle to try to fill store vacancies eventually? Will this acquisition lead to a major problem for commercial real estate?

“It is hard to say. It depends on what Amazon does and how long it takes them to do it,” Isaac Marcushamer, Chief Innovation Partner and partner in the Business Reorganization practice group at Berger Singerman, tells GlobeSt.com. “Most of the time, effect of a new entrant with an intent to disrupt a market takes time to make a significant impact. It took about five to 10 years for us to see the real retail effects of Walmart entering the market. It will almost certainly take Amazon less time than that because of advancements that have been made.”

Some retailers are thriving despite the Amazon effect. Find out why. Also get insight into why big boxes are becoming smaller boxes.

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In Amazon Age, Kroger-Anchored Retail Center Offers Rare Opportunity

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