TNP Appoints Dee Balch as Director, CFO

(RealShare Orange County convenes at the Hyatt Regency, Irvine, August 16.)

IRVINE, CA-TNP Strategic Retail Trust Inc., a public, non-traded REIT that invests in grocery and drug-store-anchored, multitenant necessity retail properties and other real estate-related assets, has promoted Dee R. Balch to director and CFO. She will immediately serve as director of the company and will assume the role of CFO August 15.

“Dee has a wealth of experience in real estate accounting with top firms, and I couldn’t be more pleased to announce her well-deserved promotion,” said James R. Wolford, TNP’s president and COO, in a prepared statement. “I believe she will add significant value in her new position, and our company and investors alike will benefit from her leadership and experience.”

Balch replaces Wolford as a member of the company’s board of directors. As GlobeSt.com previously reported, Wolford was recently promoted to president and COO of TNP. In addition to continuing his role as CFO at Thompson National Properties, he will devote his time to those responsibilities.

With more than 20 years of accounting and real estate experience, Balch previously served as controller with TNP LLC. Prior to joining TNP, she spent two years as SVP, finance and accounting, with Buchanan Street Partners, a real estate investment-management company.

“My primary responsibility as CFO is to ensure the transparency, accuracy and timeliness of financial information that is being reported to our investors and other stakeholders,” Balch tells GlobeSt.com. “Managing the treasury functions, taking into consideration liquidity and risk, is also within the scope of my other responsibilities.”

Balch adds that she believes that necessity retail properties anchored by major grocery and discount stores—such as Walmart and Target—have held up well in the current economy since they are essentially much more recession-proof than properties without major anchored tenants.  “I believe this sector should continue to improve as the economy recovers. The occupancy of the properties that our REIT has acquired was already primarily in the 80-90% range on the date of acquisition. The occupancy is expected to continue to improve as the remaining space is filled with the recovery of the economy.”

In other TNP news, the REIT has renewed its advisory agreement with its external advisor, TNP Strategic Retail Advisor LLC, a subsidiary of TNP LLC, for one year. “As exclusive advisor for Strategic Retail Trust, Thompson National Properties is proud of the portfolio we have acquired, manage and lease on behalf of SRT,” said Anthony W. Thompson, CEO of TNP and TNP SRT, in a prepared statement. “We look forward to continuing to add value to the portfolio on behalf of the company’s stockholders.”

As GlobeSt.com previously reported, in June TNP Strategic Retail Trust Inc. acquired Visalia Marketplace, a 200,794-square-foot retail center, for a price the firm did not disclose to GlobeSt.com. The property was recently renovated in 2008.