SCI Sells Out TIC Stakes for $32M Center

EDMOND, OK-SCI Real Estate Investments has sold out the tenants-in-common stakes for the recently bought, 274,000-sf Bryant Square Center. Eighteen investors have put up a $300,000 minimum for a piece of a 93%-leased asset valued at $31.7 million.

The upside for the 308 S. Bryant Ave. shopping center is the rent gains that are to be made from in-place tenants and future ones, Scott Derrick, chief acquisitions officer for the Los Angeles-based SCI, tells GlobeSt.com. He says existing triple-net rents average $6 per sf to $9 per sf, but new deals are generating $12 per sf to $14 per sf in a submarket pushing $18 per sf, on average. Old Navy recently came on board at $13 per sf, according to Derrick."There is so much upside to the property because rents are so much under market," Derrick stresses. Stein Mart, with a renewal in its sights, is paying $6 per sf, but it's just invested $1 million into retooling the store so it's clear that "they aren't going anywhere," he adds. "We think there is tremendous upside in rents."

Bryant Square Center is SCI's first trek into Oklahoma City. It was the only unsold piece to a four-property portfolio of Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors, which is shedding up to $350 million of mostly retail assets in this year's business plan. The center, situated 14 miles from the Oklahoma City CBD, and the three other properties were marketed by Thomas Salanty of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. Derrick and SCI's chief investment officer Andrew Van Tuyle did the TIC group's bargaining. Derrick says the leasing and management decision is pending.

Derrick says Weingarten knocked on his door when the other buyer excluded Bryant Square Center from the pack. "Instead of taking it back on the market, Weingarten called us up," he says, citing an anticipated hold of seven years. To sweeten the deal, he explains Weingarten guaranteed rent for two years on the vacant space. The going-in cap rate is 7.19%.

"It's an irreplaceable location," Derrick says, adding it's ready to go, without any renovation. "It's a tremendous opportunity to buy in a good city with upside. And it's safe because it's investment grade."

Bryant Square was built in 1975 on a 28.5-acre tract; it was renovated in 1991 and 1994. The hard-corner footprint has a heavily weighted, national lineup and built in cross-traffic from Target, Lowe's and Wal-Mart.