JLL arranges sale of suburban Philadelphia retail center

PHILADELPHIA, January 16, 2020 – JLL Capital Markets announced today that it has closed the sale of Baederwood Shoppes on the Fairway, a 116,778 square foot, Whole Foods-anchored retail center in the suburban Philadelphia community of Abington, Pennsylvania.

JLL marketed the property on behalf of institutional clients managed by Barings, one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers. A joint venture between Charter Realty and Development Corp. and an open-end institutional fund sponsored by Inland Institutional Capital, LLC purchased the asset.

Baederwood Shoppes on the Fairway is 94% leased to a variety of internet-resistant tenants, including anchor Whole Foods Market, Planet Fitness, Panera Bread, Le Papillon Hair Salon, Message Envy, Baederwood Pharmacy, Penn Community Bank and WSFS Bank. Situated on 10.4 acres at 1537-1659 Fairway Valley Road, Baederwood Shoppes on the Fairway is visible to a combined 39,000 vehicles from the intersection of Fairway Valley Road and Route 611. The retail center is in Abington, an infill, affluent bedroom community 10 miles from Center City, Philadelphia, and in Montgomery County, the second wealthiest county in the state. Nearly 126,000 residents earning an average annual household income of $113,726 live within a three-mile radius of the property.

The JLL Retail Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by Senior Managing Directors James Galbally, Chris Angelone, and Chris Munley and Senior Director Colin Behr. Baederwood Shoppes on the Fairway marks the third Whole Foods-Anchored retail center the JLL team has closed in the greater Philadelphia marketplace in 2019.

“Having sold three Whole Foods-anchored centers over the past year, it is evident that investors of Whole Foods-anchored shopping centers have an insatiable demand for the product,” Galbally said.  “Baederwood attracted a wide array of strong interest from a diverse group of institutional, REIT and private investors. It is very rare to see all buyer profiles show up and competitively bid for multi-tenant retail in today’s environment.”

“Baederwood Shoppes on the Fairway is an extremely unique asset, offering a best-in-class anchor in Whole Foods and providing both term and dominant sales volume while still offering exceptional NOI growth and lease spread opportunities,” Munley added. “The core demographic profile added to the investor demand, which created an extremely competitive bidding process that yielded exceptional results."

“Baederwood has provided strong risk-adjusted returns for our clients during our ownership period and the sale of the asset will allow us to redeploy capital within our clients’ current investment strategies,” John Ockerbloom, head of U.S. real estate equity for Barings commented.

JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether investment advisory, debt placement, equity placement or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,700 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

For more news, videos and research resources on JLL, please visit the firm’s U.S. media center Web page: U.S. newsroom.

Barings is a $335+ billion* global financial services firm dedicated to meeting the evolving investment and capital needs of its clients and customers. Through active asset management and direct origination, Barings provides innovative solutions and access to differentiated opportunities across public and private capital markets. A subsidiary of MassMutual, Barings maintains a strong global presence with business and investment professionals located across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Learn more, at barings.com.

*As of September 30, 2019 

Inland Institutional Capital, LLC (“ICAP”) provides real estate portfolio investment and asset management services to institutional investors, institutional separate accounts, and pooled investment vehicles. ICAP also facilitates institutional joint ventures and other large scale investment opportunities. Since 2005, ICAP has facilitated the completion of transactions with a value in excess of $11.5 billion. Inland Institutional Capital is an SEC registered investment adviser. ICAP is part of The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc. which is comprised of a group of independent legal entities some of which may be affiliates, share some common ownership or have been sponsored and managed by subsidiaries of such entities or subsidiaries thereof.

Charter Realty & Development Corp. is a full-service commercial real estate acquisition, development, and leasing company founded in 1993 by Paul Brandes and Dan Zelson. Charter specializes in acquiring both urban and suburban infill retail and mixed-use assets. Charter’s vertically integrated platform identifies value-creation and growth opportunities for all real estate product types. It currently owns, manages or leases over 12 million square feet of property. For more information on Charter Realty & Development Corp., please visit chartweb.com.