Friday, October 28, 2011

Canadian REIT Acquires $16 Million Net-Leased Retail Property in Vorhees, NJ




VORHEES, NJ– Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, the nation’s largest real estate investment services firm, has negotiated the sale of a retail condominium (top left photo) in Vorhees net leased to BJ’s Wholesale Club. The sales price of $15.9 million represents $138 per square foot.

Matthew Gorman and Tom Gorman, senior associates in Marcus & Millichap’s Philadelphia office, along with Michael S. Shover, an associate also based in Philadelphia, represented the seller, a prominent local developer that owns a substantial portfolio of office and retail properties.

 The Gormans and Shover teamed up with Marcus & Millichap’s Mark Taylor (middle left photo), a first vice president investments, and Dean Zang (middle right photo), a vice president investments, to represent the buyer, H&R REIT of Canada.

“We worked diligently to execute this transaction,” explains Matthew Gorman. “From marketing to closing, the entire transaction took only 90 days.

“With a loan assumption involved, it was remarkable. The seller needed to raise cash quickly and had lots of equity in this property. Initially, it looked like a straight-forward net-lease deal until BJ’s announced plans to sell its operations, which raised questions about the company’s future credit rating,” he continues.


 “Also complicating the transaction was the property’s subordination to a condo association. Finally, there was a debt assumption, which in some cases can take up to 90 days alone.”

In the end, the property’s excellent location in a market with high barriers to entry, high land costs and strong demographics, combined with the strength of Marcus & Millichap’s brokerage platform, resulted in a qualified buyer, which was sourced from a large pool of interested investors, says Matthew Gorman.

 “We received nine offers from institutional and private investors, including 1031 exchange buyers and local, high net-worth individuals. “Both domestic and international capital expressed interest in this asset.”

Located at 152 Route 73, the 115,396-square foot property was developed as a reverse build-to-suit for BJ’s Wholesale Club in 2004. BJ’s has 13 years of term remaining on its existing 20-year lease.

BJ’s is co-anchored by a Lowe’s Home Improvement store, which is located in the 355,917-square foot Cedar Hill Shopping Center, a regional power center. Virtua Health recently constructed a two million-square foot, 125-acre medical center across the street from Cedar Hill, further boosting BJ’s property values over the long term.

The affluent population within a five-mile radius of the property totals more than 153,000.

 Contact: Stacey Corso, Public Relations Manager, (925) 953-1716


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