GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Lincoln Park Trades for $48M

Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. closed the sale earlier this month, but word has yet to reach the street. The seller is holding onto leasing and management of the fully leased center at 7700 W. Northwest Highway for another year, Matthew Tice, Inland's acquisitions coordinator, tells GlobeSt.com. "It was part of getting the deal done," he says. "Sometimes the seller wants to maintain some of it for awhile. It's not preferred, but sometimes it happens."

The six-year-old Lincoln Park is situated on 11.5 acres, right across the road from the 1.2-million-sf NorthPark Mall, which is being groomed for a 600,000-sf expansion. "It's a class A property in the right location," Tice says of Inland's latest buy. "It's really an irreplaceable property." And, he adds, it will be a long-term hold just like Inland's other acquisitions. Inland reported paying about $320 per sf for the leasable space.

Tice says none of the anchor leases roll until 2009 and only a few of the small shop pacts expire next year. Tom Thumb has a 50,000-sf flagship store on a ground lease while Barnes & Noble occupies 29,485 sf and the Container Store fills 25,000 sf. According to Inland's 8-K, Tom Thumb's lease runs through January 2023; Barnes & Noble's lease is up in January 2009; and the Container Store is in place until January 2015. The quoted rent averages $34 per sf, but some smaller shops are paying as much as $44 per sf.

Inland Western Real Estate Trust, part of the Oak Brook, IL-based Inland Group of Cos., has been Texas' most active retail buyer this year, buying one shopping center per month. "And, we're trying to stay that way," Tice says. Another 10 reportedly are under contract in key Texas markets, but it's too early to tell just how many will get across the closing table.