ANTHEM, AZ-Whitestone REIT's appetite for Phoenix-area assets remains strong. Less than a week after acquiring Mercado at Scottsdale Ranch, the Houston-based REIT bought the 113,293-square-foot Anthem Marketplace from Regency Centers for $23.3 million.

Anchored by a Safeway Grocery Store, the property at 3655 W. Anthem Way was acquired through off-market means. Whitestone REIT relied on cash drawn from it unsecured revolving credit facility. Anthem Marketplace has in-place net operating income of approximately $1.8 million, or 8% of the purchase price, and, based on Whitestone's current number of shares of common stock outstanding, is expected to add approximately $0.06 per share in annual Funds From Operations.

Whitestone's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Anthem Marketplace is a class-A community center located near affluent residential neighborhoods and has superb accessibility to Interstate 17," says Whitestone's chairman and CEO James C. Mastandrea. "It serves a trade area consisting of approximately 75,000 residents in the seven-mile trade ring. The center was purchased at $206 per square foot which is considerably below replacement cost, and the land pad included in the purchase represents a considerable value-add opportunity with the potential to add 15,000 square feet of leasable space.”