Dealmaker: JLL Secures $81M for Retail

JLL Capital Markets, Chicago, secured $80.5 million in acquisition financing for a five-property grocery-anchored retail portfolio in the Philadelphia area.

JLL also marketed the portfolio for seller Brandolini Cos., Berwyn, Pa. Paramount Realty, Oakhurst, N.J., purchased the assets in partnership with Medipower Group, New York, for $114.25 million. Working with the new owner, JLL placed five separate fixed-rate loans with three banks.

Paramount Realty President Maurice Zekaria noted the firm plans to add value to the properties through capital improvements and finding a new tenant mix for existing vacancies “to cater to the evolving new retail landscape,” he said.

The assets included:

–Lionville Shopping Center in Lionville (Giant anchored)

–Marketplace at Westtown in West Chester (Giant anchored)

–Spring Towne Center in Sinking Spring (Giant and Lowe’s anchored)

–Dreshertown Plaza in Dresher (George’s Marketplace anchored)

–Limerick Crossing in Limerick (ALDI anchored)

The JLL Capital Markets Investment Sales Advisory team representing the seller was led by Senior Managing Directors Chris Munley and Jim Galbally, Senior Director Colin Behr and Associate James Graf. JLL Senior Managing Directors Jon Mikula and Jim Cadranell, Director Michael Pagniucci and Analyst Carlos Silva placed the debt.

“Investor demand within the Mid-Atlantic has grown both in quantity and diversity,” Munley said. He added that much of that interest now comes from alternative product-type owners as first-time retail buyers looking for yield and/or out-of-market capital.

“We continue to see a significant increase in demand for grocery-anchored shopping centers,” Galbally said. “The investor interest for retail and, specifically, grocery-anchored shopping and dominant power centers has greatly increased in late 2020 and throughout 2021.”