GIC, RPT Realty Forge $244M Retail Venture

Mission Bay Plaza. Image courtesy of RPR Realty

Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC is betting up to $318.3 million on open-air shopping centers in the U.S. through a new joint venture with RPT Realty, a NYSE-listed real estate investment trust. The sovereign investor spent $118.3 million to purchase a 48.5 percent stake in five retail assets in Florida, Missouri and Michigan and has committed up to $200 million of additional capital to the venture for future deals.

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The five properties RPT contributed to the venture span a total of 776,905 square feet of gross leasable area and are valued at $244 million, according to a statement by the trust. The shopping centers, which were 97.7 percent leased as of September 30, include:

• Coral Creek Shops in Coconut Creek, Fla. (109,312 square feet);
• Mission Bay Plaza in Boca Raton, Fla. (262,759 square feet);
• The Crossroads in Royal Palm Beach, Fla. (121,509 square feet);
• Town & Country Crossing in Town & Country, Mo. (186,557 square feet);
• The Shops at Old Orchard in West Bloomfield, Mich. (96,768 square feet).

All of the shopping centers are anchored by grocery stores such as Publix and Whole Foods and feature other major retailers including Target, Walgreens and L.A. Fitness.

RPT retained a 51.5 percent stake in the joint venture, from which it will receive property management, construction management and leasing fees. The REIT will be responsible for day-to-day management of the properties and sourcing future acquisitions.

Eyeing more grocery-anchored assets

Combined with RPT’s commitments, the new joint venture will wield up to $412.2 million of capital to deploy on additional grocery-anchored shopping center assets. RPT’s statement names high-growth markets such as Austin; Boston; Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.; Minneapolis; Richmond, Va.; Phoenix; Miami; and Tampa and Orlando, Fla., as potential targets.

RPT Realty, formerly RAMCO Properties, owns and operates a portfolio of open-air shopping destinations across the U.S. The platform consisted of 48 shopping centers totaling 11.8 million square feet that was 94.7 percent leased as of September 30. The REIT acquired its new name in November of last year, following a management change that included Brian Harper’s appointment as president and CEO.

GIC, which is estimated to have some $390 billion of assets under management, isn’t new to the U.S. retail sector. In late 2015, the fund purchased a 40 percent interest in five retail assets in Oregon, California, Arizona and Texas, as part of a larger deal involving a portfolio of eight regional malls worth roughly $2.3 billion.