New York City — Urban Edge Properties (NYSE: UE) has purchased a seven-property retail portfolio primarily within the New York City metro area and Missouri for $325 million. The portfolio contains a total of 1.5 million square feet.
The acquisition includes Yonkers Gateway Center in Yonkers, New York; Manchester Plaza in Manchester, Missouri; and The Plaza at Woodbridge in Woodbridge, The Plaza at Cherry Hill in Cherry Hill and 21 E. Broad Street/One Lincoln Plaza in Westfield, all in New Jersey.
The portfolio is currently 83 percent leased. The tenant rosters contain a mix of big-box stores such as Burlington, Best Buy, DSW and Toys “R” Us; grocers like Aldi and Trader Joe’s; furniture outposts like Raymour & Flanigan and Bob’s Furniture; and restaurants like Five Guys, Cake Boss and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, among others.
Occupancy rates range from 74 percent for The Plaza at Cheery Hill to 100 percent for the Westfield asset.
New Jersey-based Acklinis Realty Holding LLC owned the portfolio for more than 30 years. The contributors exchanged their property interests for about $122 million of Urban Edge operating partnership units, which were valued at $27.02 per unit. Urban Edge assumed about $33 million of existing mortgage debt, issued about $126 million of new non-recourse, secured mortgage debt and funded the remaining $44 million in cash.
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the parties in the transaction. Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal advisor to Urban Edge, while Ira Meislik of Meislik & Meislik coordinated the legal team advising the contributors.
Urban Edge Properties is a REIT focused on managing, developing, redeveloping and acquiring retail real estate in urban communities primarily within the New York metropolitan region. Urban Edge owns 92 properties totaling 16.7 million square feet. The company’s stock price closed at $24.50 per share on Thursday, May 25, down from $26.39 one-year prior.
— Nellie Day