Nuveen Purchases Southern Retail Duo

Hazel SouthPark is located adjacent to the Specialty Shops SouthPark. Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix

Nuveen Real Estate has acquired a pair of retail properties in two high barrier-to-entry southeastern U.S. markets.

One of the assets acquired, Roswell Wieuca, is a 74,370-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood. The property is adjacent to Chastain Park and has been operational since 1954.

The site was previously owned by ShopCore Properties, according to CommercialEdge data. The purchase price could not immediately be learned, though the same data revealed that Chicago-based ShopCore acquired the asset for $32.5 million, or $443.29 per square foot, in 2017.

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Nuveen also acquired Specialty Shops SouthPark in Charlotte, N.C., purchasing the asset alongside Hill Partners, which has managed and leased the complex since 2014. The pair acquired the property from GWL Realty Advisors for $40.2 million in March, paying $576.57 per square foot, according to CommercialEdge data. The same data shows that GWL acquired the asset for $25.1 million, or $359.28 per square foot, in April 2014. The 65,362-square-foot open-air shopping plaza is part of the SouthPark commercial and residential community, which is located near the Myers Park, Barclay Downs, Quail Hollow and Foxcroft neighborhoods.

The SouthPark property hosts restaurants and privately owned boutiques, as well as national brand name stores. Two other retail centers—SouthPark Mall, offering more than 150 retailers and restaurants, and the Piedmont Town Center—are located within the complex. Queens University of Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College are located less than 10 miles from the property, while the Tyvola, Woodlawn, Archdale, Scaleybark and Arrowood transit stations, offering subway access, are all less than 5 miles away.

Multifamily housing developer ZOM Living sold Hazel SouthPark, a luxury, mixed-use community at the site, for $130.8 million in 2022. The deal set a record for the highest per-unit price ever paid for a North Carolina multifamily project. The buyer was not disclosed at the time, but Yardi Matrix data revealed the owner to be Herndon, Va.-based Lincoln Property Co.

Nuveen is investing heavily in mixed-use properties with various demand drivers that are located near both residential and daytime population centers. In a statement, the company noted that the deals are part of its retail strategy of prioritizing assets which benefit from shifting consumer preferences and evolving demographic trends, as well as investing in locations near employment and residential hubs.

Naming both southern metros as priority markets, Nuveen’s statement also observed that open-air retail has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic as a particularly strong sector. The company’s retail portfolio in the region includes The Forum on Peachtree Parkway in Peachtree Corners, Ga., Commonwealth in Charlotte and Birkdale Village in Huntersville, N.C.