Rhode Island Retail Center Fetches $165 Per SF

NARRAGANSETT, RI-The Salt Pond Shopping Center here changed hands for $30.6 million. Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers acquired the 185,631-sf grocery-anchored center from Property Advisory Group.Property Advisory Group acquired the asset in 1997 for $17 million. In 2003, it backfilled a vacant Ames space with a 55,650-sf Marshall’s. The other anchor is a 60,853-sf Stop & Shop, which was renovated in 2000 and has been posting sales of about $800 per sf. Additional tenants include West Marine, Sears Appliance, Blockbuster Video, Only a Dollar and Newport Creamery. The transaction was brokered by CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners SVP B. William Moylan. Moylan tells GlobeSt.com the purchase price translates to a capitalization rate of 6.5% based on in-place numbers. The un-leveraged IRR on the investment is 8%. “That seems to be as low as (institutional) advisors are willing to go,” says Moylan. “The market is very active and big numbers are occurring right now.”The center is located on Route 108 at the intersection of Point Judith Road and Woodruff Avenue. Moylan says Property Advisory Group asked him to take it to market after receiving a couple of unsolicited offers for the property. “We were able to get (about $4 million) more than what they were originally offered.”In March, Inland Real Estate Group paid about $30.8 million for Warwick Centre, a new 160,000-sf power center in Warwick. The fully leased property is anchored by Barnes & Noble (28,000 sf), Dick’s Sporting Goods (49,829 sf) and Linens ‘n Things (31,180 sf) and Designer Shoe Warehouse (25,000 sf). The cap rate on the transaction, based on in-place rents, was said to be in the low 7% range. Moylan represented the seller in the transaction, Universal Properties Group of West Warwick. As part of the transaction, Universal Properties master leased the lone vacant space in the development. In February, the Rouse Co. of Columbia, MD paid $522 million in cash and assumed debt for Providence Place, a 1.3-million-sf regional shopping center in Providence that opened in 1999 as the centerpiece of the city’s Downtown revitalization plan. Providence Place includes 420,000 sf of mall space that is 98% occupied; 115,000-sf of larger, street-facing shops; a 200,000-sf Filene’s department store; a 197,000-sf Nordstrom department store; a 126,000-sf Lord & Taylor department store; a 16-screen cinema with an Imax theater; and a 4,500-slip parking deck.