Marcus & Millichap Sells $18.8M Grocery-Anchored Center in Reading, PA

READING, Pa., Feb. 1, 2010 – Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has brokered the sale of Towne Square Plaza, (top left photo)  a 123,101-square foot shopping community in Reading.

The sales price of $18,854,000 represents $153 per square foot or an 8.02 percent cap rate.

Brad Nathanson, (middle left photo) a vice president investments and director of the firm’s National Retail Group in Philadelphia, represented the seller, Newman Development Group, and the buyer, a joint venture of Cedar Shopping Centers and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.

“Towne Square Plaza is a Class A community center anchored by a 73,000-square foot Giant Food supermarket and a 127,000-square foot Target store,” says Nathanson.

 “The strong performance of Target’s Broadcasting Square store prompted the company to open a second store on the east side of Reading. Giant wanted to capitalize on a dominant Wal-Mart Supercenter located a short distance north of the site,” he adds.

 “The investors recognized that the busy Fifth Street Highway retail area has had an extremely limited supply of new quality retail in the past 10 years.”

“Giant and Target provide the investment community with a low level of risk, given their market dominance.

:In the end, the shopping center was acquired by a joint venture of two institutions showing that core assets anchored by your dominant grocers will still be demanded and bought at premium pricing, whether by institutions or private investors, in the current marketplace,” adds Nathanson.

Towne Square Plaza is located at 4410 Fifth Street Highway in the Berks County submarket of Reading, which is 70 miles west of Philadelphia between Allentown and Lancaster. More than 100,000 people reside within five miles of the center.

Built in 2008, Towne Square Plaza’s junior box tenants include A.C. Moore and PetSmart.

Press Contact: Stacey Corso, Communications Department, (925) 953-1716