The West End shopping center has stood for nearly 40 years. (Mike Platania photo)
A Big Apple firm has taken a bite out of Richmond’s West End as part of its entrance into the commonwealth.
Asher Group, an investment and development firm based in New York City, recently purchased the Tuckernuck Square shopping center at 9004 W. Broad St. for $14.5 million.
The seller was an entity tied to Excel Realty Trust, a publicly traded New York firm that bought Tuckernuck Square in 2003 for $7.5 million.
Anchored by Chuck E. Cheese and book and collectible store 2nd & Charles, Tuckernuck Square has stood along Broad just west Parham Road since 1983. The 86,000-square-foot center is 90 percent occupied and houses other tenants like Stories Comics and Zorba’s Greek & Italian Cuisine.
Ben Asher, Asher Group president, said the deal was his firm’s first in Virginia, and that Tuckernuck joins about a dozen other properties in the company’s portfolio.
“We loved the area and tenancy at the plaza and think we can make improvements to better the plaza for us as an investment and for the local town and residents,” Asher said in an email, noting that they view the property as a long-term hold.
The deal closed Aug. 7. Tuckernuck Square sold for just below its most recent county-assessed value of $14.9 million, per county records. The outparcel buildings occupied by Arby’s, Truist Bank, Starbucks and KFC along Broad Street were not part of the deal.
Deals for shopping centers had been scarce through the first half of 2023 but have picked up in the summer months. In addition to Tuckernuck Square, other shopping centers to change hands in recent weeks include Village Marketplace and Stonehenge Village in Midlothian, and Parham Plaza, Staples Mill Square, and Ridge Shopping Center in Henrico.
The West End shopping center has stood for nearly 40 years. (Mike Platania photo)
A Big Apple firm has taken a bite out of Richmond’s West End as part of its entrance into the commonwealth.
Asher Group, an investment and development firm based in New York City, recently purchased the Tuckernuck Square shopping center at 9004 W. Broad St. for $14.5 million.
The seller was an entity tied to Excel Realty Trust, a publicly traded New York firm that bought Tuckernuck Square in 2003 for $7.5 million.
Anchored by Chuck E. Cheese and book and collectible store 2nd & Charles, Tuckernuck Square has stood along Broad just west Parham Road since 1983. The 86,000-square-foot center is 90 percent occupied and houses other tenants like Stories Comics and Zorba’s Greek & Italian Cuisine.
Ben Asher, Asher Group president, said the deal was his firm’s first in Virginia, and that Tuckernuck joins about a dozen other properties in the company’s portfolio.
“We loved the area and tenancy at the plaza and think we can make improvements to better the plaza for us as an investment and for the local town and residents,” Asher said in an email, noting that they view the property as a long-term hold.
The deal closed Aug. 7. Tuckernuck Square sold for just below its most recent county-assessed value of $14.9 million, per county records. The outparcel buildings occupied by Arby’s, Truist Bank, Starbucks and KFC along Broad Street were not part of the deal.
Deals for shopping centers had been scarce through the first half of 2023 but have picked up in the summer months. In addition to Tuckernuck Square, other shopping centers to change hands in recent weeks include Village Marketplace and Stonehenge Village in Midlothian, and Parham Plaza, Staples Mill Square, and Ridge Shopping Center in Henrico.
I don’t know this business, but is there THAT much cash still on the sidelines out there? I mean seriously, why purchase properties when banks just got downgraded and interest rates are rising?
Depends on where you get your financing from. A lot of large real estate transactions are actually financed by insurance and other institutional companies looking to get a return on their funds. Some companies are also self funded, which means their owner, or the company themselves, has a pile of cash they “lend” to their company and then get paid back over time with. Interest rates can dramatically vary in those instances because they may be willing to accept lower interest rates than banks.
Victoria: Retail is a hot commodity right now. Since the Great Recession there’s been a slowdown in new retail construction, coupled with the closing, or re-positioning of many malls ( ie: Regency and Virginia Center commons). That created more demand for second generation community shopping centers, as well as supermarket anchored centers.
I lost my shirt on a commercial retail REIT about 6 years ago, so I am super gun shy when it comes to investing in commercial real estate in general. Like I said, I don’t know this business, but as the saying goes – fool me once…..
This shopping center would make a good place to add 300 to 600 apartments to due to it being a vast empty chunk of paved old 1970’s parking lot.