Hershey Trust Trades 218 KSF Shopping Center in Central Pennsylvania

By Anna Spiewak, Senior News Editor

Hershey Trust Co.,  a state-chartered trust company, has sold Hershey Square Shopping Center in Hummelstown, Pa. to Heidenberg Property Group for an undisclosed amount.

CBRE’s Washington, D.C., National Retail Investment Group and Kevin McClernon of CBRE’s Wayne, Pa. office represented the seller.

The 218,290-square-foot shopping center is anchored by Weis Markets, the second-largest supermarket in Central Pennsylvania. Other primary retail tenants include K-mart, and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. The property is currently 95 percent occupied, with no planned changes, according to a CBRE spokesperson.

“This opportunity was an institutional-quality shopping center in one of the best small towns demographically in the state of Pennsylvania, where there was a high-barrier of entry for future competition,” said McClernon, senior vice president with CBRE’s Investment Properties division, in a news release.

Hershey Trust is one of Pennsylvania’s wealthiest philanthropies, it runs a school for disadvantaged children. It is financially supported through the profits of the candy giant Hershey Co., and an entertainment and resort company which owns the famed Hersheypark. The trust manages more than $7 billion in assets.

The controlling stake in the candy company begun in 1905 by Milton S. Hershey. The chocolate founder established the trust to create the Milton Hershey School.