DDR Spends $85M for 2 Charlotte Retail Centers

September 28, 2011
By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Cotswold Village

Cotswold Village and Terraces at SouthPark, two retail destinations accounting for an aggregate 291,200 square feet, have traded for an aggregate $85 million. With the brokerage assistance of commercial real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis, affiliates of private real estate company Bell Partners Inc. sold the assets to shopping center REIT DDR Corp.

Located at 282 S. Sharon Amity Rd., Cotswold Village features approximately 262,600 square feet of Class a retail space on a sprawling 22-acre site in an affluent area of the city. The shopping center, built in 1950 and redeveloped in 2007, has three anchors, including a Harris Teeter grocery store occupying nearly 52,000 square feet.

The second property, the 28,600-square-foot Terraces at SouthPark, sits less than three miles south of Cotswold Village at 4717-4735 Sharon Rd. Serving an affluent residential community and a premier office market, the 11-year-old specialty retail center counts a 7,000-square-foot SunTrust Bank chain and a 6,700-square-foot FedEx/Kinko’s center as its lead tenants,

CBRE welcomed a bevy of bidders for the premier assets. “Cotswold Village represented a rare opportunity to purchase a market dominant grocery-anchored community center that contains all of the elements institutional investors are looking for today–market leading grocer, in-fill location, excellent demographics and opportunity for future growth,” Mike Burkard, senior vice president with CBRE’s National Retail Investment Group, said. “These characteristics were recognized by many of the country’s top shopping center owners who pursued the asset aggressively.”

As for Terraces at SouthPark, the property’s relatively high 95 percent occupancy level undoubtedly attracted investors’ attention. The vacancy rate for specialty centers in Charlotte was 8.1 percent in the second quarter, as per a report recently released by ChainLinks Retail Advisors.