Oak Brook, Ill. — The joint venture with MAB American Retail Partners LLC will develop grocery-anchored centers in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Oak Brook, Ill. — Inland Real Estate Corp. (NYSE: IRC) has entered into a joint venture with MAB American Retail Partners LLC to develop grocery-anchored shopping centers in select markets throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
The five-year development program will target demographically strong metropolitan areas in the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Inland says the program could result in the construction of as many as 20 new grocery-anchored shopping centers with a total market value of $325 million.
“We are very excited to enter into this joint venture, which furthers our strategic goals to enhance the quality and stability of our operating platform through growth and diversification of our geographic footprint and retailer base,” says Mark Zalatoris, president and CEO for Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Real Estate Corp. “Our development joint venture with MAB provides us with the opportunity to develop and acquire brand new, high-quality, grocery-anchored shopping centers after stabilization and at a discount to market value.”
Under terms of the agreement, Inland has exclusive rights to all grocery-anchored, build-to-suit opportunities in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic sourced by MAB, an affiliate of Melbourne, Australia-based MAB Corp. Inland will provide 90 percent of the equity required to fund approved project costs. MAB will be responsible for the remaining 10 percent of the equity, plus venture management, sourcing and acquisition of sites, project financing and all property and development duties.
The agreement also states Inland Real Estate Corp. will purchase each grocery-anchored center at a discount to fair market value after stabilization. A typical project likely will consist of a 50,000-square-foot grocery store with approximately 20,000 square feet of additional retail space.
MAB Corp. is a privately owned property development company and fund manager. The corporation has completed more than $2 billion in projects, including retail, office, multifamily and industrial, at locations throughout Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Inland Real Estate Corp. is a publicly traded REIT that owns and operates open-air neighborhood, community, power and lifestyle retail centers and single-tenant properties located primarily in the Midwest. As of Sept. 30, the REIT owned interests in 161 properties, including 52 owned through its joint ventures, totaling approximately 15 million square feet.