DALLAS--Rockstreet Partners has purchased Cooper Oaks Crossing, an 86,175-square-foot neighborhood shopping center in Arlington.
Acquired in an off-market transaction through a joint venture with Cielo Property Group, Cooper Oaks is located at the southeast corner of South Cooper Street and Southwest Green Oaks Boulevard, just south of Interstate 20 and The Parks at Arlington mall. The property boasts over 62,000 square feet of available anchor space, and a variety of small shop tenants including a CareNow, General Nutrition Center and Wing Stop.
"We saw Cooper Oaks as a redevelopment opportunity with solid downside risk protection," John L. Turner, principal with Rockstreet Partners, told GlobeSt.com. "The area surrounding Cooper Oaks is a heavily trafficked retail market, with a dearth of available anchor space. The current rents at Cooper Oaks will allow us to patiently implement our business plan."
Since its opening in 1998, the 11-acre property was anchored by 62,539-square-foot Tom Thumb grocery store. This past March, however, Tom Thumb's parent company, Safeway Inc., merged with Albertsons. Beyond creating the country's second-largest grocery chain, the combination of Albertsons and Safeway carried with it the need to consolidate operations in areas where the combined firm had stores with overlapping market coverage; one location identified for shutter was the Cooper Oaks Tom Thumb.
Faced with the prospect of re-letting the suddenly vacant anchor space, prior ownership elected to sell Cooper Oaks to the Rockstreet-Cielo joint venture following receipt of the group's unsolicited bid this past summer.
"Now that we have taken possession of the property, our first order of business is to lease this most desirable anchor space to a strong retailer whose presence will benefit the community," says Turner. "Beyond that we intend to make the sort of capital investments at Cooper Oaks that will help the business of our small shop tenants thrive and grow.
"The center is 91 percent leased, despite having the anchor space vacant; thus, the property is experiencing positive cash flow," Turner says. "This should allow out partnership to make the planned improvements and changes without the negative cash flow pressures typically associated with investments of this variety."
"Cooper Oaks offers retailers a very rare anchor opportunity in this highly desirable and affluent trade area," says Rob Gandy, founding principal of Cielo Property Group. "We were fortunate to acquire it at a good value before it hit the market, and are confident that this property will deliver a big upside for Cielo and Rockstreet."
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