Preferred Apartment Communities’ $158M Shopping Spree

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Thompson Bridge Commons, Atlanta

Atlanta—Preferred Apartment Communities Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary New Market Properties LLC, has acquired seven grocery-anchored shopping centers consisting of a total of 650,400 rentable square feet, for $158 million.

The shopping centers are located in Georgia, Florida, Texas and North Carolina.

“This is a transformative transaction for us in that we now own 30 grocery-anchored centers across seven states, consistent with our strategy of acquiring well-positioned grocery-anchored centers in suburban Sunbelt markets anchored by strong market leaders,” Joel Murphy, New Market Properties president & CEO, said in a prepared release. “We are also excited about our initial expansion into both the North Carolina and South Florida markets.”

Three of the properties are located in Atlanta: Thompson Bridge Commons, an approximately 92,600-square-foot shopping center anchored by Kroger; the 102,900-square-foot Cherokee Plaza, also anchored by Kroger; and Sandy Plains Exchange, an approximately 72,800-square-foot, Publix-anchored shopping center.

The two Florida assets include Shoppes at Parkland, an approximately 145,700-square-foot BJ’s Wholesale Club-anchored shopping center in South Florida, and University Palms, a 99,200-square-foot, Publix-anchored shopping center located in Orlando.

The final two properties are Heritage Station, a 72,900-square-foot, Harris Teeter-anchored shopping center in the Raleigh, N.C., area; and Oak Park Village, an approximately 64,300-square-foot retail center in San Antonio anchored by HEB.

“We are pleased to add two more Publix anchored centers, two more Kroger anchored centers as well as adding our first Harris Teeter, HEB and BJ’s Wholesale Club anchored centers to our growing Sunbelt portfolio,” Murphy said.

The acquisitions were financed utilizing separate non-recourse first mortgage loans from Nationwide Life Insurance Co. and the Keybank National Association for an aggregate amount of approximately $97.7 million, with the balance of the purchase price paid from PAC’s available funds.

Image courtesy of Hines