Local Group Snags 118,000-SF Portairs

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX-A partnership under the name of Portairs Shopping Center LP acquired the 118,281-square-foot Portairs Shopping Center from Weingarten Realty Investors. The partnership, led by Jim Boller, ended up with the center because it’s local and could provide hands-on management.

The center, located at Ayers Street and Home Road, includes Beall’s, CVS Pharmacy, La Michoacana Meat Market, Sally Beauty and Hollywood Video as tenants. The buyers were able to obtain financing from a local credit union.

Seller representative Rudy Hubbard with Transwestern’s Houston office tells GlobeSt.com that Weingarten put the center on the market as part of its strategy to dispose of older centers and focus on grocery anchored, newer centers in growing areas. “This has a stable income stream,” says Hubbard, who partnered with Transwestern’s Scott Carter and Leah Gallagher on the transaction. “These guys know the local market and they think they can bump rents when the economy becomes stronger.”

With debt markets still frozen, finding financing is still a challenge, Hubbard says. Because of low LTVs, buyers are still required to come up with equity, which rules out a lot of people.

In the case of Portairs Shopping Center, Hubbard says the marketing period yielded a handful of offers from private equity, opportunistic players. “These are the only people looking at deals these days,” he comments. “I think the people who find good buys and values today will be well-rewarded, even if we haven’t hit bottom yet.”