Grocery-Anchored Center Sold to Gerrity

PORT ORCHARD, WA—Bethel Junction, a 157,508 square foot Safeway-anchored shopping center in Port Orchard, recently changed hands.

Bethel Junction occupies 13 acres of land and was developed in 1989. A second phase of development occurred in 1998 which added approximately 50,000 square feet of additional retail space. The shopping center sold for $20,800,000 at $132 per square foot.

The buyer was Gerrity Group, based in San Diego. Gerrity has been actively buying retail centers in the Pacific Northwest since 2011.

CapitalPacific was responsible for marketing the property. This was the first large grocery-anchored transaction on the Kitsap Peninsula in over 10 Years., said Sean Tufts, partner and the founder of Capital Pacific's Seattle office.

“The purchase of Bethel Junction illustrates the continued demand for grocery anchored shopping centers in the Pacific Northwest and a continued expansion from the core/traditional box in search for opportunities and higher yields,” Tufts added.

Since 2010, the Pacific Northwest normally averages 16 Grocery/Power Center transactions every year. At the half way point of 2014, the count stands at nine. Capitalization rates for Grocer/Power Centers have actually increased by 40 basis points compared to the 2013 average. This is likely not due to a lack of demand, but rather the specific circumstances surrounding each of the sales that have occurred in 2014 (i.e. location, quality, year built. anchor strength, etc.) Earlier this year Gerrity Group purchased Redondo Square, another Safeway-anchored shopping center located in Des Moines, WA.

Capital Pacific is the Pacific Northwest leader in retail investment sales with offices in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. In the last 18 months, the 15 Capital Pacific brokers have generated 262 closings totaling $1.06 Billion.