Off-Market Northline Commons Deal Attracted Keen Interest

HOUSTON–The Northline Commons shopping center here has changed hands in an off-market deal arranged by HFF’s Houston office. Senior managing director Rusty Tamlyn and managing director Ryan West represented the seller, Berenson Associates of Boston.

The buyer was an affiliate of North American Development Group, which is headquartered in West Palm Beach, FL. Stephen Preston of HFF's Dallas office represented NADG. No purchase price for the 478,584-sf property was released.

Tamlyn says that HFF approached Berenson about marketing Northline Commons in an off-market approach earlier this year and began marketing the center, which is located at the Northeast corner of Interstate 45 and Crosstimbers in north Houston, at the International Conference of Shopping Centers conference in May in Las Vegas. The transaction closed on Sept. 21.

“Many buyers have indicated to us they prefer this method of purchasing assets," Tamlyn says. "They feel they have a better shot at buying the property, and it's a better use of their human resources. We convinced the seller to allow us to use this approach, which generated multiple offers in a short time.”

He stresses that “there was no discount whatsoever” in the deal with NADG. “We got as good a price in this off-market process as we would have in the normal purchasing process,” Tamlyn adds.

Northline Commons is a redevelopment of the former Northline Mall that was built in the 1960s. Completed in 2009, the new center is 86% leased and anchored by Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less, Burlington Coat Factory, Conn’s and Palais Royal. It is also shadow-anchored by a Wal-Mart Super Center.

In the past two years, NADG has acquired more than $600 million worth of retail properties throughout the US, totaling approximately 4 million square feet of gross leasable area. The firm has been involved in the acquisition, development, redevelopment and management of more than 200 retail centers comprised of more than 25 million feet with an enterprise value in excess of $3 billion. Berenson and its predecessor companies have been in the real estate arena for more than 100 years and have developed more than 20 million square feet.