WILKES-BARRE, PA-WP Edwardsville Associates, an affiliate of Bryn Mawr-based WP Realty, has acquired the 285,000-sf West Side Mall in the Edwardsville suburb here from Binghamton, NY-based EMA Associates LP. The center also includes an 80,000-sf building formerly occupied by an Ames Department Store.

John Fasciano and Michael Seaman, associates of Conshohocken-based Fameco Real Estate, structured the deal and represented the seller. They declined to disclose the price, which, according to published reports, is $23 million. The same report says the new owner filed an open-end, $26.6-million mortgage on the property. Bryan Weingarten, founder and president of WP, did not respond to GlobeSt.com inquiries.

EMA acquired the property in 2000, and, according to a Fameco spokesperson, "completely gutted and rebuilt it in 2001, and expanded it last year. It has a vacancy of 2% on the existing space," she says. WP plans to redevelop and expand the center, and the Fameco spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that it "has proposed a Lowe's Home Improvement Center for the Ames space." Among the mall's current tenants are Price Chopper, Rite Aid, AJ Wright and Jo-Ann Fabrics.

WP currently owns and manages more than 5.5 million sf of retail space, primarily in the Northeast. According to its website, it is aggressively seeking shopping centers with lease-up or redevelopment opportunities in the Northeast, New England and the mid-Atlantic states.