Suburban Philly, Oklahoma City Retail Assets Totaling 777 KSF Reel in $103M

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Deptford Landing

Not all commercial real estate investors are in a San Francisco, Washington, D.C., or New York state of mind. Premier assets in non-premier locations like Deptford Landing in Deptford, N.J., and The Shops at Moore in Oklahoma City, Okla., have moved up higher on buyers’ radar. In two separate transactions totaling $103 million, UCR Investment Sales orchestrated the disposition of the retail properties, which feature an aggregate 777,000 square feet and full tenant rosters.

Acting on behalf of an affiliate of Cypress Equities Real Estate Investment and Sarofim Realty Advisors, UCR secured RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust as a buyer for the 517,000-square-foot Deptford Landing. Located roughly 10 miles south of Philadelphia, the four-year-old power center counts Sam’s Club and Walmart as anchors.

“It’s a really unique asset because it’s got everybody on a lease or a ground lease, including the big anchors,” David Disney, president of UCR, told Commercial Property Executive. “Finding Sam’s Club and Walmart on leases on the same asset is fairly uncommon. Usually they shadow-anchor any center that they anchor; they like to own their own real estate. So these are exceptions to the rule, which made the property that much more attractive to the buyer.”

UCR represented an affiliate of Burk Collins & Co. in the sale of The Shops at Moore to Inland Real Estate Acquisitions Inc. The 260,000-square-foot power center was put up for grabs due to an entity-level bankruptcy. Also completed in 2008, the property sits just outside of Oklahoma City and offers a long list of anchor tenants that includes Ross Dress for Less, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Office Depot and Hobby Lobby. Additionally, JCPenney is a shadow anchor.

“It’s got good-quality credit tenants and Oklahoma City has been fairly recession proof, so it’s been an attractive market for certain types of investors,” said Disney.

Deptford Landing and The Shops at Moore may not be able to claim locations in the most highly coveted markets, but they have the building quality, they have the solid tenants and they have the maximum occupancy level.

“The appetite for investors has clearly spread beyond primary markets into secondary markets, though Deptford is in a bit more of a primary market because it’s in the Philadelphia metro area,” Disney added. “Investor appetite in many cases can be just as strong for high-quality core properties in secondary markets as it can be in primary markets, depending on the asset.”

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