Branch Properties Snags 2 KY Shopping Centers

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Millpond Center in Lexinton, Ky.

In a $59.7 million deal, Branch Properties has acquired Tates Creek Centre and Millpond Center, two Kroger-anchored shopping centers based in Lexington, Ky., from Weingarten Realty.

Mid-America Real Estate Corp.’s investment sales team brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller.

Located at the northwest corner of Tates Creek Road and Man O’War Boulevard, the 196,028-square-foot Tates Creek Centre also has a tenant roster of Proof Fitness, Rite Aid, MOD Pizza, PNC Bank and H&R Block.

The 124,498-square-foot Millpond Center is situated at the southeast corner of Man O’War Boulevard and Boston Road and has a tenant roster that includes Workout Anytime, Subway and Pizza Hut.

Joe Girardi, Mid-America Real Estate Corp.’s principal, brokered the sale.

Big activity for buyer and seller

In October, Branch Properties acquired an 876,153-square-foot, multi-state portfolio comprising six grocery-anchored properties in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, with properties anchored by Publix, Kroger and Whole Foods.

Weingarten Realty is coming off a busy fourth quarter of 2017, having sold six shopping centers and other real estate for $230.2 million, including Market at Town Center in Houston, Buena Vista Marketplace and Summerhill Plaza in California, Green Valley Ranch Towne Center in Denver and Flamingo Pines Plaza in Florida. For all of 2017, WRI sold 19 shopping centers and other real estate, worth a combined $444 million.

Many pundits following the grocery industry closely have sounded off in the past year about how Amazon’s entry into the grocery space could put a damper on grocery-anchored shopping centers, but deals are occurring. Already this year, Cushman & Wakefield negotiated the sale of Peachtree Station, a 100,000-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center in the Atlanta area; TA Realty acquired Providence Commons, the 110,137-square-foot Publix-anchored retail center in Mount Juliet, Tenn., for $28.2 million; and Mosaic Realty Partners acquired Fortuna Center Plaza, a 104,694-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center in Dumfries, Va., for $20.2 million. 

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