"There is strong tenant demand," said Kenneth F. Bernstein, Acadia's president and CEO. "National retailers are underrepresented here." The footprint will be larger and the scope expanded. The company is in negotiations for two more redevelopment projects, one in Northern Manhattan and the other in Brooklyn. "We're building a nice pipeline for future growth," Bernstein continued. These projects are expected cost approximately $100 million, as well. Its second project is a $30 to $35 million effort in Pelham Manor, NY. The company entered into a 95-year ground lease for a 16-acre site which will be redeveloped into a multi-anchor community retail center.
The site at 400 East Fordham Rd. here that is currently home to a Sears, whose lease expires in 2007. Sears has been in the site near Fordham University for 40 years. According to New York City statistics, Fordham Road is the strongest retail area in the borough and is the third largest retail corridor in all of New York City, with over 650,000 people in a two-mile radius and annual retail sales in excess of $500 million.
Acadia sees the potential for retailers not already established in the Bronx such as Target, Kohl's, Office Max, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
"The Fordham Road redevelopment is the first of what we expect will be several New York urban/infill redevelopment projects that we plan to execute with P/A Associates," Bernstein added.
Acadia is acquiring the site through Acadia Strategic Opportunity Fund II LLC. The fund II, which has $300 million of committed discretionary capital, was established to acquire up to $900 million of real estate assets on a leveraged basis as well as invest in Acadia's Retailer Controlled Property Venture with the Klaff Organization. Upon completion of the redevelopment, it is anticipated the project will earn an unleveraged yield in excess of 10%.
During the third quarter, Acadia completed its first investment through the RCP venture. Approximately $23.2 million was invested by Funds I and II into an affiliate of Lubert-Adler/Klaff, which is part of the investment consortium, along with Sun Capital Partners, Inc. and Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., that acquired the 257 store Mervyn's department store chain from the Target Corp. for $1.2 billion.
On a year-over-year basis, Acadia increased its portfolio occupancy by 470 basis points. Year-end 2004 occupancy was 92.3% compared to 87.6% at year-end 2003 and 86.3% for 2002. Same store net operating income for the retail portfolio increased 3.9% for annual 2004 over 2003. During 2004, Acadia executed new and renewal leases totaling 640,000 sf, or 9% of the retail portfolio at an average increase of 9% over the previous base rents on a cash basis.
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