Grocery-Anchored Portfolio Trades for $218M

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Office Depot University Village in Seattle, a Loja Real Estate property

Walnut Creek, Calif.—Loja Real Estate has sold 11 retail properties in markets across the United States to New York-based Clarion Partners, which purchased the portfolio on behalf of a commingled fund and a separate account managed by the firm. The $218 million transaction was announced late last week by Loja.

The properties were single-tenant, net-leased grocery stores in Chicago, Florida, Minnesota and California, and a multi-tenant, grocery-anchored shopping center in Denver. Loja reportedly plans to continue retail property acquisition in markets across the country.

The sale fits with Loja’s long-term portfolio strategy, Katherine Burr, executive chairwoman of Loja Real Estate, said in a prepared statement. “Loja looks to seize opportunity when it presents itself, on both the buy side and the sell side. With uncertainties around the election and given commercial property valuations, we felt it was a good time to move some properties.”

Neither Loja nor Clarion responded to Commercial Property Executive’s requests for additional information.

“The economic impact of the election hasn’t hit yet. The global stock market went from despair the night of the election to wishful thinking since,” Garrick Brown, vice president of retail research, the Americas,

 for 
Cushman & Wakefield/DTZ, told CPE. “We don’t know what the impact of Trump’s policies or leadership will be yet. Right now, the U.S. markets are being optimistic.”

“Net-lease retail is pretty strong right now, and grocery can be a safe bet depending on your tenant,” he continued. “If these are strong properties with long-term leases in place to steady players, Brown concluded, that probably means Loja got “top pricing.”

Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Loja Real Estate is a private equity real estate investment firm with $350 million in assets under management.