437,000-SF Festival at Bel Air Sold to JBG Rosenfeld Retail

Anchor tenants at the Harford County property include Klein's Supermarket, Marshall's and an 85,000-sf Kohl's department store. Festival, which is sandwiched between Routes 24 and 924, is currently 96% leased. Transwestern Commercial Services represented the seller, an affiliate of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System that purchased Festival for $43.5 million late in 1993. At that time, the property's value--land and structure only--was assessed at $29 million.

The parties involved in the current transaction are not releasing the financial terms of the deal, but it is speculated to be one of the biggest retail purchases of 2001. Maryland's Department of Assessments and Taxation values the property at $32.6 million as of January 1, 2000 and gives it a July 1, 2001 phase-in value of $32.3 million. Dallas, TX-based Trammell Crow Co. began developing Festival at Bel Air in 1988 and completed construction in 1991.

"This is the dominant community shopping center in its trade area with a regional draw, "Transwestern Broker Howard Mersky, who operates out of the company's Bethesda, MD office, tells GlobeSt.com. "This is because of the diverse mix of tenants, from supermarket/drug/convenience to national retailers such as Kohl's and Marshall's."

In a statement, JBGR Principal Rob Rosenfeld says "Festival at Bel Air has exactly what we look for in a property: strong anchor tenants; a prime location in a well-traveled corridor and a sought-after retail market; and an opportunity for value enhancement." Continuing with GlobeSt.com, Mersky validates Rosenfeld's notion of the property's future profitability. "The purchaser has the ability to add value by bringing in new lifestyle tenancies," he says.