Those transactions are in addition to a previously disclosed deal involving a 40,000-sf shopping center in Fairfield, CT., worth $10.25 million. The firm has signed a contract to acquire the property, but has not closed on the transaction as yet.

All three transactions are expected to close during the next several months. Urstadt Biddle Properties plans to finance the shopping center acquisitions with the proceeds from a recent sale of eight million shares of Class A Common stock.

Currently, the Greenwich, CT.-based-company, which owns, manages and acquires commercial real estate, primarily community shopping centers, owns 26 properties consisting of approximately 2.8 million sf of space.

Willing L. Biddle, president of Urstadt Biddle Properties, refused to discuss the pending deals, but did say that the firm is targeting additional acquisitions in its New York-Connecticut market area.

"We're very aggressive. We have $70 million in cash we are willing to place in acquisitions," he tells GlobeSt.com. However, while there are some opportunities in the New York metro area, the competition for prime retail space is fierce.

Biddle continues that real worthwhile opportunities are scarce in the New York suburbs. He adds that the economic downturn, and particularly the troubles on Wall Street, has caused more players to enter the commercial capital markets. He said that more and more investors, public and private, are turning to real estate as an alternative to the stock market.

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John Jordan

John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.

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