NE Retail Portfolio Trades in $377M Transaction

ROCKLAND, MA-Two months after being unveiled by GlobeSt.com, the largest retail portfolio sale of its kind ever in New England has taken a big step forward, with Tedeschi Realty Corp. closing on 22 of 25 shopping plazas being divested to a Denver-based real estate investment trust. Dividend Capital Total Realty Trust is paying $377 million for the package in a partnership with WestRidge Realty Advisors that will have the latter firm serving as asset manager for the properties. WestRidge is based in Westport, CT.

Having advised Dividend Capital to pursue the hotly contested portfolio, WestRidge managing director Joshua Kagan tells GlobeSt.com there were many features that made the bid worthwhile. “The locations by and large are very strong,” offers Kagan, noting that the properties are in heavily populated regions such as south suburban Boston. Many of the sites are in hard-to-develop communities, especially several situated on Cape Cod where commercial development can be onerous, especially for hulking retail properties.

As detailed in the initial GlobeSt.com story in May, the Cape assets include Star Market-anchored developments in Harwich and Hyannis; the Skaket Corners Shopping Plaza in Orleans; and a Stop & Shop plaza in Sandwich. Off-Cape assets in Massachusetts are situated in Braintree, Rockland and Wareham, while the portfolio also extends into Connecticut and Rhode Island. A plaza in Middleborough was dropped from the package for unknown reasons. Kagan declined to discuss the deletion, while officials at Tedeschi and Dividend Capital did not respond by press deadline. Had that asset been included, the sale price would have been about $392 million. Observers estimate the portfolio had close to 90% occupancy at the time of the sale, and supposedly traded for a capitalization rate in the 6% range. The remaining three centers are expected to close this summer.