TIAA-CREF Spends $58M on Grocery-Anchored Connecticut Retail

February 6, 2012
By Nicholas Ziegler, News Editor

Kings Crossing Shopping Center has found a new owner, as the grocery-anchored retail property in Fairfield, Conn., has just been picked up by TIAA-CREF from the previous owner, HH East Parcel L.L.C., an entity led by Summit Development. CBRE Group Inc. represented the seller and procured the buyer.

The property’s purchase price was $57.5 million, according to LoopNet.

Kings Crossing, which features a Whole Foods anchor store in its 80,702 square feet, is located directly next to newly opened the Fairfield train station. The center was developed in 2011 and is 95.5 percent leased to national chains including CVS, Petco and JP Morgan Chase. Since the property was opened so recently, the first lease is not set to expire until 2021.

“Kings Crossing is the newest center in the high-barrier-to-entry and superior-demographic Fairfield market,” Jeff Dunne, vice chairman with CBRE, said. “TIAA recognized the center’s unique combination of trophy quality construction, credit tenancy and in-fill location, providing stable long-term income.”

The life company has been investing heavily in retail of late. In October, TIAA-CREF partnered with CBL & Associates Properties Inc. on a $1.1 billion joint venture to invest in four shopping malls across the Midwest.

Additionally, grocery-anchored retail has been a target for many investors in recent quarters. Last week, Kentucky’s Springhurst Towne Center sold for $78 million to a client of Savills. Regency Centers made its first foray into the New York market with a $73 million buy on Long Island in mid-January. And Blackstone nabbed quite a bit of retail real estate in December when it ponied up $473 million for 3.9 million square feet of shopping centers, most of which were anchored by Publix grocery stores.