JV Forms to Target Grocery-Anchored Shopping Centers
ShopOne Centers REIT, Pantheon and a global institutional investor have joined together to acquire institutional-quality shopping centers across US growth markets.
NEW YORK, NY – A joint-venture has formed between fully-integrated, grocery-anchored retail center investment, management and operating platform ShopOne Centers REIT Inc., global private markets investment manager Pantheon and a global institutional investor. The partnership will acquire institutional-quality shopping centers in growth markets throughout the US.
The joint-venture will target necessity-based, value-oriented grocery-anchored centers in the top 100 MSAs, and it will also consider necessity and value-oriented grocery-anchored, neighborhood and community shopping centers in select college towns or established tourist destinations.
The partners have invested capital totaling more than $1 billion in investment capacity. Aligning with the partnership’s target investment criteria, ShopOne has additionally contributed an existing portfolio.
The partnership has already closed on a newly-created $225 million senior credit facility providing debt capital for the initial portfolio, with additional capacity to fund future acquisitions.
“We are very excited to form this partnership with two highly experienced institutional partners that possess deep relationships within the investment community,” states ShopOne CEO John Roche. “Like us, they are bullish on the near- and long-term fundamentals of grocery-anchored shopping centers and the attractive risk-adjusted returns these assets can generate.”
Roche adds, “By combining forces, we have the capital and platform to strategically add scale in the markets we target and unlock value for the communities we serve.
ShopOne will oversee the management and leasing efforts of all properties within the partnership’s portfolio. Institutional Real Estate Inc. (IREI) served as capital advisor to ShopOne for the transaction.
Managing director of Pantheon’s real estate group David Elliott states, “Grocery-anchored shopping centers have proven their resilience throughout the pandemic, playing a vital role in their local neighborhoods and communities. We’re delighted to work closely with the entire ShopOne team to execute a strategy focused on investing in and improving necessity-based centers in growth markets throughout the US.”
“Due to the stability and strong financial performance exhibited during the pandemic, we’ve seen increasing liquidity in the capital markets for grocery-anchored shopping centers,” says ShopOne chief investment officer Chris Reed. “Given the breadth of resources and expertise this joint-venture possesses, we believe we offer an attractive and unique buyer profile that we will use to our advantage as we seek to grow our footprint in our target markets.”