The 34-year-old shopping center is anchored by a Food Lion and Bryant & Stratton College. (Courtesy of New South Properties)
Changes are coming to a Chesterfield retail strip following its $7 million sale to the self-proclaimed white knights of Food Lion-anchored shopping centers.
Earlier this month New South Properties purchased Cross Pointe Marketplace at 8201 Hull Street Road for $7.1 million.
The deal is NSP’s first outside of the Carolinas, where the Charlotte-based firm owns and manages 18 Food Lion-anchored properties. NSP partner Will Whitley said they found Cross Pointe the same way they find many of their other assets: with a lead from Food Lion.
“We have a long relationship with Food Lion, so when they have a distressed property we’re basically their white knights in that case,” Whitley said. “We buy the center, they tell us what the (center’s) issues are. We don’t do a major renovation of the entire center, but it’s a complete facelift.”
An undeveloped parcel was included in the sale, and its new owners say they already have an interested user in the works.
In exchange for improving the surrounding shopping center, Whitley said they have Food Lion sign a long-term lease extension during the sale. He said that was the case with Cross Pointe.
“We’ve earned Food Lion’s trust. We’ve proven we won’t just come in, renegotiate their deal and not make the center the best it could be,” Whitley said. “We got a long-term extension from Food Lion as a carrot to incentivize us.”
Cross Pointe totals 73,800 square feet and is co-anchored by Bryant & Stratton College. The shopping center was built in 1988 and Whitley said there haven’t been improvements in over a decade, with some of the suites dealing with issues such as roof leaks.
The seller in the deal was Texas-based developer AlbaneseCormier, which bought the center in 2015 for $2.8 million.
Other tenants at the center include restaurants like Wah Wah Chinese Restaurant, Bonos Pizza & Subs and Kristine’s Jamaican Takeout, though Whitley said they’re going to look to bring in new tenants as leases expire.
“We’re going tenant by tenant and figuring out who’s got to stay and who’s got to go. The goal is to get better restaurants and retailers that help Food Lion and serve students of (Bryant & Stratton),” Whitley said. “It’s not a high-end specialty center, but should be a great neighborhood services center.”
Whitley said NSP is planning to spend an additional $1 million on improvements for the center, starting with repaving the parking lot and adding new lighting, which he said they’re starting this week.
NSP closed on the deal Oct. 4, and it included an undeveloped 1.4-acre outparcel at the center’s entrance fronting Hull Street Road. They’re marketing that as a ground lease or build-to-suit site, and Whitley said they’re already lining up an unnamed user.
“We already have traction from a user that, if we can pull it off, will make an immediate impact and be eye-opening,” Whitley said.
The 34-year-old shopping center is anchored by a Food Lion and Bryant & Stratton College. (Courtesy of New South Properties)
Changes are coming to a Chesterfield retail strip following its $7 million sale to the self-proclaimed white knights of Food Lion-anchored shopping centers.
Earlier this month New South Properties purchased Cross Pointe Marketplace at 8201 Hull Street Road for $7.1 million.
The deal is NSP’s first outside of the Carolinas, where the Charlotte-based firm owns and manages 18 Food Lion-anchored properties. NSP partner Will Whitley said they found Cross Pointe the same way they find many of their other assets: with a lead from Food Lion.
“We have a long relationship with Food Lion, so when they have a distressed property we’re basically their white knights in that case,” Whitley said. “We buy the center, they tell us what the (center’s) issues are. We don’t do a major renovation of the entire center, but it’s a complete facelift.”
An undeveloped parcel was included in the sale, and its new owners say they already have an interested user in the works.
In exchange for improving the surrounding shopping center, Whitley said they have Food Lion sign a long-term lease extension during the sale. He said that was the case with Cross Pointe.
“We’ve earned Food Lion’s trust. We’ve proven we won’t just come in, renegotiate their deal and not make the center the best it could be,” Whitley said. “We got a long-term extension from Food Lion as a carrot to incentivize us.”
Cross Pointe totals 73,800 square feet and is co-anchored by Bryant & Stratton College. The shopping center was built in 1988 and Whitley said there haven’t been improvements in over a decade, with some of the suites dealing with issues such as roof leaks.
The seller in the deal was Texas-based developer AlbaneseCormier, which bought the center in 2015 for $2.8 million.
Other tenants at the center include restaurants like Wah Wah Chinese Restaurant, Bonos Pizza & Subs and Kristine’s Jamaican Takeout, though Whitley said they’re going to look to bring in new tenants as leases expire.
“We’re going tenant by tenant and figuring out who’s got to stay and who’s got to go. The goal is to get better restaurants and retailers that help Food Lion and serve students of (Bryant & Stratton),” Whitley said. “It’s not a high-end specialty center, but should be a great neighborhood services center.”
Whitley said NSP is planning to spend an additional $1 million on improvements for the center, starting with repaving the parking lot and adding new lighting, which he said they’re starting this week.
NSP closed on the deal Oct. 4, and it included an undeveloped 1.4-acre outparcel at the center’s entrance fronting Hull Street Road. They’re marketing that as a ground lease or build-to-suit site, and Whitley said they’re already lining up an unnamed user.
“We already have traction from a user that, if we can pull it off, will make an immediate impact and be eye-opening,” Whitley said.
We need more of this in Chesterfield County. The model of building new and move existing business further west down 360 and 60 isn’t sustainable. I’d like to see Chesterfield County Economic Development Authority create and market a program that incentivizes redevelopment of the strip malls on the eastern side of 360, and elsewhere in the county.