The bulk of the commercial section of West Broad Village is now owned by CTO Realty Growth. (BizSense file photos)
Whole Foods, REI and most of their other neighboring businesses within West Broad Village have a new landlord.
Florida-based CTO Realty Growth last week paid $93.9 million to purchase the bulk of the commercial portions of the Short Pump mixed-use neighborhood.
The deal, which closed Friday, encompasses around 392,000 square feet across 18 acres and includes the buildings occupied by Whole Foods, REI, HomeGoods and Dave & Buster’s, and the inline space with tenants such as Gather and Burger Bach.
The row of free-standing restaurants along Broad Street that houses Bonefish Grill, MPM Tiki Bar, Chuy’s, and Carrabba’s also were part of the sale.
Not included in the sale were the buildings occupied by ACAC Fitness & Wellness, Golf Galaxy and Aloft Hotel. Those properties all have separate owners.
The seller was Shopcore, a Chicago-based REIT formerly known as Excel Trust. It paid a total of $161 million for nearly all of West Broad Village in 2012, purchasing the commercial and apartment sections from the project’s original developer, Unicorp.
That 2012 purchase price included $68.8 million for the commercial sections that were just sold.
Whole Foods is one of the original anchors of the development.
The apartments, known as the Flats at West Broad Village, have since changed hands multiple times, most recently acquired about a year ago by Henrico-based Capital Square for $111 million.
Cushman & Wakefield represented Shopcore in Friday’s sale. The company had first listed the commercial portions for sale in 2018, before relisting them earlier this year and attracting CTO.
John Albright, CTO’s president and CEO, said the publicly traded firm has two other mixed-use “lifestyle centers” properties similar to West Broad Village in its portfolio in Plano, Texas, and Atlanta.
“We like these lifestyle centers,” Albright said.
With occupancy in the commercial spaces at 83 percent, Albright said the firm sees opportunity in bringing the vacant 17 percent to life.
“We try to breathe some more excitement and energy into the properties and get some momentum. It’s about adding components that play well with the local neighborhood and the market,” he said.
“We clearly like that challenge and opportunity of having vacancy to work with,” he added. “We’ll bring in new management and leasing and kind of have a kind of fresh approach.”
Albright said CTO is in negotiations with Colliers to handle leasing.
An aerial map highlighting the area that just sold. (Henrico County records)
Among the available spaces is the former Wells Fargo branch that was left vacant by the banking giant earlier last year.
West Broad Village has attracted new tenants in recent months. MPM Tiki Bar took over the former Carolina Ale House space along Broad earlier this year. Truist Bank-owned insurance brokerage McGriff moved in as the newest office tenant in the spring.
CTO was founded 115 years ago and has been publicly traded since 1969. It currently has 19 properties in its portfolio, mostly in the Southeast and Southwest. It’s only other property in Virginia is an office building in Reston, though Albright said it has owned and sold other properties in the state over the years.
The company said the West Broad Village purchase was funded in part by 1031 exchange proceeds from the previous sale of other assets.
Not included in CTO’s purchase is the 1-acre grass parcel in the center of West Broad Village where Capital Square plans to build a from-scratch 4-story headquarters.
West Broad Village is the latest grocery-anchored development in that stretch of Short Pump to sell in the last year or so. The neighboring Trader Joe’s-anchored Short Pump Station sold in September 2021 for $47 million.
The bulk of the commercial section of West Broad Village is now owned by CTO Realty Growth. (BizSense file photos)
Whole Foods, REI and most of their other neighboring businesses within West Broad Village have a new landlord.
Florida-based CTO Realty Growth last week paid $93.9 million to purchase the bulk of the commercial portions of the Short Pump mixed-use neighborhood.
The deal, which closed Friday, encompasses around 392,000 square feet across 18 acres and includes the buildings occupied by Whole Foods, REI, HomeGoods and Dave & Buster’s, and the inline space with tenants such as Gather and Burger Bach.
The row of free-standing restaurants along Broad Street that houses Bonefish Grill, MPM Tiki Bar, Chuy’s, and Carrabba’s also were part of the sale.
Not included in the sale were the buildings occupied by ACAC Fitness & Wellness, Golf Galaxy and Aloft Hotel. Those properties all have separate owners.
The seller was Shopcore, a Chicago-based REIT formerly known as Excel Trust. It paid a total of $161 million for nearly all of West Broad Village in 2012, purchasing the commercial and apartment sections from the project’s original developer, Unicorp.
That 2012 purchase price included $68.8 million for the commercial sections that were just sold.
Whole Foods is one of the original anchors of the development.
The apartments, known as the Flats at West Broad Village, have since changed hands multiple times, most recently acquired about a year ago by Henrico-based Capital Square for $111 million.
Cushman & Wakefield represented Shopcore in Friday’s sale. The company had first listed the commercial portions for sale in 2018, before relisting them earlier this year and attracting CTO.
John Albright, CTO’s president and CEO, said the publicly traded firm has two other mixed-use “lifestyle centers” properties similar to West Broad Village in its portfolio in Plano, Texas, and Atlanta.
“We like these lifestyle centers,” Albright said.
With occupancy in the commercial spaces at 83 percent, Albright said the firm sees opportunity in bringing the vacant 17 percent to life.
“We try to breathe some more excitement and energy into the properties and get some momentum. It’s about adding components that play well with the local neighborhood and the market,” he said.
“We clearly like that challenge and opportunity of having vacancy to work with,” he added. “We’ll bring in new management and leasing and kind of have a kind of fresh approach.”
Albright said CTO is in negotiations with Colliers to handle leasing.
An aerial map highlighting the area that just sold. (Henrico County records)
Among the available spaces is the former Wells Fargo branch that was left vacant by the banking giant earlier last year.
West Broad Village has attracted new tenants in recent months. MPM Tiki Bar took over the former Carolina Ale House space along Broad earlier this year. Truist Bank-owned insurance brokerage McGriff moved in as the newest office tenant in the spring.
CTO was founded 115 years ago and has been publicly traded since 1969. It currently has 19 properties in its portfolio, mostly in the Southeast and Southwest. It’s only other property in Virginia is an office building in Reston, though Albright said it has owned and sold other properties in the state over the years.
The company said the West Broad Village purchase was funded in part by 1031 exchange proceeds from the previous sale of other assets.
Not included in CTO’s purchase is the 1-acre grass parcel in the center of West Broad Village where Capital Square plans to build a from-scratch 4-story headquarters.
West Broad Village is the latest grocery-anchored development in that stretch of Short Pump to sell in the last year or so. The neighboring Trader Joe’s-anchored Short Pump Station sold in September 2021 for $47 million.
Great to see new ownership. Scents of Serenity Organic Spa’s anchor location is in West Broad Village.
https://scentsofserenityspa.com/