95,000-SF Center Sold For Capital Raise

MCCALLA, AL-Deleveraging activity to raise more capital was a reason why Centro Properties Group recently sold its 95,092-square-foot Shoppes at Letson Farms for $12.7 million. The company will hang onto its other Alabama holdings for the time being, but plans to soon bring another shopping center in Atlanta, GA to market.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP managing director H. Bradley Peterson from the company’s Atlanta office had the listing on behalf of the Australian-based Centro Properties. He says the asset at 4750 Eastern Valley Rd. came to market in June 2008, was under contract in September, and closed in mid-February 2009. Buyer DLC Management Corp. in Tarrytown, NY assumed the approximately $10.7 million loan, which matures in 2014. The loan carries a 5.43% interest rate and a 30-year amortization.

Peterson tells GlobeSt.com that Shoppes at Letson, which was built on just under 16 acres between 2002 and 2004, generated some good activity from potential buyers. Ultimately, “DLC is one of the best buyers out in the market today,” Peterson comments. “Our group has sold 10 shopping centers to them, and they’ve always been an excellent buyer.” Furthermore, Peterson continues, DLC has another asset in the area, which helps add scale to its local portfolio.

In return, DLC gets a center that’s anchored by long-term lessee Food World. “By the numbers, there isn’t any sort of chronic issue of near-term rollover from any of the tenants,” Peterson adds. “Both for the anchor and the other tenants, it’s historically been a good-performing shopping center.”