Andrews points out that Lincoln Village has no hair salon or medical-oriented retail, both the sort of businesses that Newport now seeks for its acquisitions. In general, the company aims to stay away from clothing and other soft goods stores.

Ross Dress for Less, however, is an exception. The no-nonsense, discount clothing retailer has surprised a lot of people by proving impervious to the challenge presented by Amazon. It anchors Lincoln Village, and recently expanded its footprint from about 24,000 to roughly 35,000 square feet. Other current tenants include Starbucks, Panera Bread and Fifth Third Bank.

Newport Fund II now owns six retail assets. It also recently purchased for $8.7 million Kedzie Plaza, a well-occupied shopping center In Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood. The 54,000-square-foot property is next-door to Pete's Fresh Market Grocery, and anchored by Dollar Tree, Fallas Stores, City of Chicago EZ Pay Center and Access Community Health.

“It's just a great little neighborhood center,” says Andrews. And unlike Lincoln Village, it is “value-add light.”

Newport Capital Partners now has about $400 million of assets under management, and has raised about $60 million for the second fund toward a goal of $250 million. The fund will keep its focus on value-add, income producing, convenience, neighborhood and community retail, and mixed-use properties in the major Midwestern metro areas.

“There are plenty of opportunities left out there,” says Andrews.

Ross Dress for Less

CHICAGO –Competition from Amazon and other e-commerce firms may have hit traditional retailers hard, but many investors still believe traditional shopping centers can thrive with the right mix of tenants. Newport Capital Partners Fund II has just bought from Inventrust the historic Lincoln Village Shopping Center at Lincoln Ave. and McCormick Blvd. on the city's North Side for $30.45 million, and plans to bring in a group of tenants that e-commerce can't harm.

Tenants currently occupy about 65% of the 164,000-square-foot center, and a 24,000-square-foot space rented by Office Depot will soon open up. But the upscale demographics of the surrounding area gives Newport officials a good reason for optimism.

“The center checks all of our boxes and provides a lot of upside opportunity just through leasing,” Ben Andrews, director at Newport, tells GlobeSt.com. “We really like service-oriented retail so we can buffer ourselves from the 'Amazon effect.'”

Lincoln Village was 100% occupied in 2006, and for generations was a true neighborhood destination, he adds. It “was developed in 1950 by EG Shinner, and designed around his vision of vehicular accessibility for neighborhood shopping being the future of retail. If you lived on the North Side of Chicago in the 70's and 80's, you most likely saw a movie at the Lincoln Village Theater, and in the 50's and 60's, you visited Hollywood Kiddieland as a child.” And with the right tenant mix, local residents will get into the habit of stopping by once or twice a week.

Andrews points out that Lincoln Village has no hair salon or medical-oriented retail, both the sort of businesses that Newport now seeks for its acquisitions. In general, the company aims to stay away from clothing and other soft goods stores.

Ross Dress for Less, however, is an exception. The no-nonsense, discount clothing retailer has surprised a lot of people by proving impervious to the challenge presented by Amazon. It anchors Lincoln Village, and recently expanded its footprint from about 24,000 to roughly 35,000 square feet. Other current tenants include Starbucks, Panera Bread and Fifth Third Bank.

Newport Fund II now owns six retail assets. It also recently purchased for $8.7 million Kedzie Plaza, a well-occupied shopping center In Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood. The 54,000-square-foot property is next-door to Pete's Fresh Market Grocery, and anchored by Dollar Tree, Fallas Stores, City of Chicago EZ Pay Center and Access Community Health.

“It's just a great little neighborhood center,” says Andrews. And unlike Lincoln Village, it is “value-add light.”

Newport Capital Partners now has about $400 million of assets under management, and has raised about $60 million for the second fund toward a goal of $250 million. The fund will keep its focus on value-add, income producing, convenience, neighborhood and community retail, and mixed-use properties in the major Midwestern metro areas.

“There are plenty of opportunities left out there,” says Andrews.