Sterling Organization Buys 1 MSF Retail Portfolio

September 27, 2024

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The open-air properties are located in three different regions.

Sterling Organization has closed on the $180.5 million purchase of a 994,000-square-foot portfolio of open-air shopping centers, the company announced on Friday. SITE Centers sold the three properties located in the Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and San Antonio metropolitan areas.

Exterior view of brick-clad Kroger store at Presidential Commons, San Antonio. Image courtesy of Sterling Organization — Presidential Commons in Snellville, Ga., an Atlanta suburb. The property is part of Sterling Organization’s newly acquired retail portfolio. *Image courtesy of Sterling Organization*

The acquisition brought the West Palm Beach-based private equity firm’s portfolio to more than 13 million square feet across 75 properties.

The deal is the second of 2024 for this buyer and seller. In a $42 million deal that closed in January, Sterling acquired SITE’s Marketplace at Highland Village, a 205,926-square-foot retail center located in the Dallas suburb of Highland Village, Texas.

Sterling’s current purchase drew on funds from Sterling Value Add Partners IV LP, an investment vehicle that includes $600 million of equity. SVAP IV, which closed in June, was oversubscribed by $100 million. Investors range from family offices and endowments to pension plans.

Sterling’s scoop-ups

The largest property in Sterling’s newly acquired portfolio is Village at Stone Oak, a 476,371-square-foot power center in San Antonio. The property is anchored by a mix of clothing and pet accessory retailers, including HomeGoods, Ross, Petco, DSW and ULTA Beauty. An adjacent Super Target is a shadow anchor. Fronting U.S. Route 281, the property is 16 miles north of downtown San Antonio and within a 5-mile radius of 170,000 residents.

The second-largest property is Presidential Commons, a 264,271-square-foot grocery-anchored center in Snellville, Ga., an eastern suburb of Atlanta. According to CommercialEdge information, SITE purchased it in 2007. Anchored by Kroger and located at 1630 Scenic Highway North, the property also has Burlington, Five Below and Aaron’s on its roster. A population of approximately 193,000 is within 5 miles of its location.

Fairfax Towne Center is the smallest of the bunch, a 253,392-square-foot property located roughly 18 miles outside of Washington D.C., in Fairfax, Va. CommercialEdge data shows that SITE bought the asset for $60.2 million in 2021. Safeway is the grocery anchor, and the retail center also features a T.J. Maxx and a Regal Cinemas.

SITE’s sales binge

The $180.5 million portfolio deal with Sterling is the latest in SITE’s dispositions of open-air retail properties. Since the beginning of the third quarter, the REIT has sold 13 properties for a combined $714.3 million, according to Yahoo Finance.

Just this week, SITE sold Cypress Trace, a 280,000-square-foot grocery-anchored asset in Fort Myers, Fla., for more than $40 million. And in August, the REIT made another seven-figure-square-foot disposition, when it sold a three-property portfolio to CTO Realty Growth for $137.5 million.