Pantheon, ShopOne Buy Atlanta-Area Retail Asset

Bethesda Walk. Image courtesy of ShopOne

Pantheon and ShopOne Centers REIT Inc. have jointly acquired Bethesda Walk, a 68,271-square-foot retail center in Lawrenceville, Ga., in metro Atlanta. According to CommercialEdge information, the property last traded in 2019 for $9 million. Unison Realty Partners was the seller in the most recent deal.

The acquisition marks the joint venture’s second grocery-anchored shopping center in Atlanta since December 2022 and the 11th asset of this kind in the duo ownership’s overall portfolio.

Anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Market, the property is 98 percent occupied, serving a population of 253,790 residents within a 5-mile radius, a number reported to increase by nearly 7 percent in the coming five years, according to ShopOne.

The shopping center’s anchor occupies 65 percent of the property’s gross leasable area and attracts more than 1 million annual visits. Subway, Wingstop, Metro by T-Mobile, as well as an array of necessity retailers and restaurants also have leases at Bethesda Walk.

Since its formation, the joint venture has been actively involved in making grocery-anchored acquisitions, with a total investment capacity exceeding $1 billion and a senior credit facility of $225 million.

According to a report by Cushman & Wakefield, during the fourth quarter of 2022, the retail market maintained a streak of seven consecutive quarters of positive net absorption, with a national total of 10.9 million square feet absorbed. Atlanta was among the leading markets, with 574,000 square feet absorbed.

Earlier this year, Branch Properties also invested in the market, with the acquisition of land for Limestone Marketplace, an upcoming 76,800-square-foot grocery-anchored retail project in Gainesville, Ga.