Phillips Edison Expands Holdings With Illinois Retail Buy

By Gail Kalinoski

David Wik, SVP of acquisitions, Phillips Edison & Co.

Phillips Edison & Co., a Cincinnati-based owner of grocery-anchored shopping centers, is continuing its aggressive expansion, adding Hoffman Village to its Illinois holdings. The 159,443-square shopping center in Hoffman Estates, Ill., a Chicago suburb, marks the 14th property in Illinois for the company.

Hoffman Village, which is anchored by Mariano’s, a local grocer owned and operated by Roundys Supermarkets Inc., was acquired by the company’s Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT I Inc. The shopping center has a mix of national and local tenants, including AT&T, Anytime Fitness, GNC, Fannie May Candies, Hallmark, Subway, Supercuts and Dunkin’ Donuts.

“The acquisition of Hoffman Village exemplified the commitment to adding high quality grocery-anchored shopping centers to the existing portfolio. It supports the strategy of owning and managing grocery-anchored centers located in markets that demonstrate strong long-term economic and demographic fundamentals,” David Wik, senior vice president of acquisitions for the company, said in a prepared statement.

The company, which has focused on the grocery-anchored shopping center sector since 1991, has made more than $2 billion in acquisitions in the last two years. It has more than 340 centers in 32 states.

George Good, executive vice president, and Christian Williams, senior vice president, both of CBRE’s Chicago office, represented the seller in the transaction.

A Look Back

Late last month, Phillips Edison announced it had picked up six properties within several months on behalf of its two managed non-traded REITs, Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT I and REIT II. Three of those assets – Riverlakes Village in Bakersfield, Calif.; Sierra Del Oro Towne Center in Corona, Calif., and St. John’s Plaza in Titusville, Fla. were added to REIT I and Ormond Beach Mall in Ormond Beach, Fla., became part of REIT II’s portfolio. Two other properties, Golden Park Village in Buford, Ga., and Frankfort Crossing Shopping Center in Frankfort, Ill., became part of the company’s portfolio.

In May, the company said REIT I, also known as PECO I, would acquire the real estate assets and the third-party asset management business of its sponsor and external advisor, Phillips Edison Limited Partnership (PELP) in a stock-and-cash transaction valued at about $1 billion. The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter, will result in an internally-managed, non-traded grocery-anchored REIT with an enterprise value of $4 billion and a portfolio of 230 shopping centers.

Photos courtesy of Phillips Edison & Co.