All Eyes on Equity One As It Closes on Westwood Shopping Center

BETHESDA, MD-More than a year after Equity One announced it would acquire four retail assets, one of which was the Giant-anchored Westwood Shopping Center here, it appears the North Miami Beach, FL-based REIT has finally sealed the deal. Equity One has confirmed to GlobeSt.com that it has closed on the property and the sister retail center, Westwood Center II, but declined to discuss pricing.

All together, Equity One has closed on seven properties in this submarket this year and last year.

A source tells GlobeSt.com that the 102,344-square foot Westwood Shopping Center traded for $65 million, or $650 per square foot. When Equity One announced the deal in 2012 it said it was paying an aggregate $260 million for the four properties, the remaining three of which are in New York City.

At the time, Equity One said transaction was structured as a $95-million mortgage loan, which has been funded. The acquisition would be completed with an outright purchase for $140 million with an anticipated closing before January 2014, it also said at the time.

Locally-based Capital Properties is the seller of the retail center and, according to Robert Dyer of the Bethesda Row blog, the Manor Care nursing home, and Westwood Tower apartment building also traded in that transaction. In 2012 Dyer wrote that the three properties traded for $140 million.

Equity One appears to be preparing for the long-rumored redevelopment of the grocery-anchored retail center. The REIT has set up a website called Westbard Vision (hat tip to Bethesda Now for spotting the site) and, according to Bethesda Now, had been set to hold community workshops on Jan. 29 and Feb. 1.

Other properties in the area that Equity One has acquired include Bowlmor Lanes and two Citgo stations.

The REIT's spokesman says that it has already begun conversations with the local community and elected officials about what people would like to see happen with this submarket. "We will have a better idea in a few months," he says.

 One clue comes from an investor presentation Equity One made last year in which it noted that Giant is in a below market lease, paying $2 per square foot. That lease is set to expire in 2019.

In that presentation, in which Equity one said it had acquired to acquire the center for $140 million, it noted that the property has had only one owner and could benefit from capital investment and intensive asset management. It also noted that the main center has a parking ratio of 10 spaces per 1,000 square feet "more than double the typical shopping center."