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BALA CYNWYD, PA-After 18 months of negotiations, locally based Powell Arms, VP of Jacksonville, FL-based Regency Centers Inc., closed on the acquisition of Gateway Shopping Center in Wayne. He would not disclose the price, but acknowledges, "We paid a premium," and adds, "it was closer to the top of the market than the median."

The median price for multi-tenant retail in Greater Philadelphia is approximately $100 per sf, according to Marcus & Millichap. However, Village at Cambridge Crossing in Mt. Laurel, NJ traded for $169 per sf, and Regency paid nearly $198 per sf this year for a center in San Ramon, CA. On condition of anonymity, an area retail broker tells GlobeSt.com that Regency's price for Gateway "was certainly north of $150 per sf, probably in excess of $35 million."

The seller, Azco Partners, a family firm, owned the 221,840-sf center for the past 40 years and, according to Arms, "had no intention of selling." What changed their minds? "Good old-fashioned persistence," he says. "Really, it was the overall economics. Interest rates and cap rates are at an all-time high, the capital gains tax is at 15%, and Regency had the ability to do some things that other companies could not do in order to further defer capital gains taxes." The sale included assumption of debt, which Arms would not quantify, cash, and shares of Regency stock.