Joint Venture Completes Harbour Village Foreclosure

JACKSONVILLE, FL-Global Fund Investments and MMG Equity Partners have completed the foreclosure on Harbour Village. The asset is a 112,886-square-foot shopping center anchored by The Fresh Market and Stein Mart. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Like many ‘distressed’ properties today, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the asset,” MMG Principal Gabriel Navarro tells GlobeSt.com. “Financed in 2007, it was simply under too large a debt burden to be viable without an owner being able to reset the basis. The property did not suffer from a lack of retailer interest. Previous ownership simply was not able to enter into new leases at the rates that the market dictated.”

After acquiring the conduit loan from a special servicer in an off-market transaction in April, the partnership set about the foreclosure process to take title to the property. The center is currently 86% leased, and the joint venture will focus on managing and leasing the property to stabilization. Global will assume the daily management and leasing functions for the shopping center.

“The Jacksonville market continues to show signs of a slow but steady requirement,” Navarro says. “While quality, top performing centers like Harbour Village are seeing increased rental rates and steady occupancy levels, weaker centers continue to struggle with both rental rates and occupancy levels. We believe that we can attain a 93% occupancy level within the next 12 months, and increase the average rental rates over the next two to three years at Harbour Village.”

Harbour Village is located at the northwest corner of Atlantic Boulevard and San Pablo road near the entrance to Queen’s Harbour Yacht and Country Club, one of Jacksonville’s most affluent communities. Over 53,000 cars pass the shopping center daily, and the three-mile population and average household income are estimated at $66,000 and $77,594, respectively.