Kimco Ends '05 In Buying Spree

In a fourth-quarter buying spree, the real estate investment trust spent $336 million to pick up interests in 23 retail properties in the United States, including a 407,000-sf portfolio of three grocery-anchored centers in California for $104.5 million along with eight properties in New York City and one in Philadelphia totaling $24.7 million. In addition, during the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2005, Kimco added six shopping centers in New York, Pennsylvania, California, New Hampshire and Texas to its holdings in separate transactions totaling $96.2 million.

But the fourth quarter buying spree didn't end there. On behalf of the company's institutional co-investment programs, Kimco paid $80.4 million to acquire four shopping centers totaling 489,000 sf in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Michigan and then spent another $29 million to acquire a 101,000-sf, grocery-anchored shopping center in Maryland in a joint venture with G.E. Real Estate.

A deal in Canada bought the REIT a $6.4-million preferred equity interest in a 250,000-sf portfolio of single and multi-tenant retail properties in the Toronto suburbs, while in Mexico, the company began construction on five retail projects totaling 1.6 million sf. In a joint venture with American Industries, the company also acquired a 50% interest in its partner's portfolio of 57 Mexican properties valued at $277.6 million.

Kimco's development arm, Kimco Development Inc. was also active, acquiring a $49.3-million equity interest in five developments, including the 600,000-sf Treasure Valley Marketplace, in Nampa, ID. Those acquisitions brought the total of new development projects acquired by the subsidiary firm this year to 16. The year's total cost for those acquisitions was $102 million. The development group also has 30 projects totaling more than 11 million sf of retail space in the pipeline.

But Kimco wasn't only in a buying mood last year. During the fourth quarter, the company sold off six properties in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida from its consolidated US portfolio for $25 million. For the year, Kimco disposed of 22 of that portfolio's assets, bringing in $100.1 million.

Two other properties were also sold from Kimco's co-investment programs for $8.5 billion in a fourth quarter sell-off that brought dispositions to 21 for the year. Those sales brought in around $250 million.

On the development end, Kimco Developers Inc. sold one completed project in Texas and portions of 11 others during the fourth quarter, generating sales of $58.4 million. Year-end totals were six completed and 17 partial projects sold with income of $264 million.