In an ongoing effort to revamp its portfolio of shopping centers, New Hyde Park-based Kimco Realty reported an active period off selling less lucrative retail centers and making buys in larger urban areas for its third quarter ending Sept. 30.
Since the end of the second quarter of 2012, the company has sold 23 “non-strategic” retail properties comprising 2.7 million square feet for $165.0 million, including a subsequent quarter-end sale of a 13- property portfolio in the Midwest region, of which eight properties were located in Ohio and five in Indiana.
The company, which is headquartered near the Lake Success border, also acquired four shopping centers comprising 581,000 square feet for $118.8 million, including $42.5 million of mortgage debt, in its primary core markets. These properties were:
• Hawthorne Hills Square, a 193,000-square-foot property located outside Chicago in Vernon Hills, Ill. This property, anchored by PetSmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Ulta Beauty, was purchased for $37.5 million, including the assumption of a $21.6 million mortgage.
• Savi Ranch, a 161,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond and Michaels located in Yorba Linda, Calif. near Los Angeles for $34.5 million.
• Woodlawn Center, a 137,000-square-foot Home Depot-anchored property in Charlotte, N.C., for $7.1 million. This property is the company’s seventh property in the Charlotte area.
• Kimco closed on Wilton Campus Shops, a 97,000-square-foot Stop & Shop-anchored center located in Lower Fairfield County in Connecticut for $39.7 million, including $20.9 million of mortgage debt.
“Kimco’s continuing with its asset recycling initiative of selling the lower tier props in its portfolio in an effort to improve the quality by buying properties in larger markets,” said David Bujnicki, Kimco vice president of investor relations and corporate communications. “It’s a strategy that we seek to continue to implement going forward.”
During the third quarter of 2012, Kimco continued its strategy of reducing its non-retail investments with a reduction of approximately $36.2 million, which included the sale of two urban properties.
Since the start of the company’s asset-recycling program in September 2010, Kimco has disposed of 86 non-strategic properties comprising, on a gross basis, 7.9 million square feet for $529.9 million, the company said.
During that same period, Kimco has spent $984.8 million to acquire a total of 47 shopping centers comprising 6 million square feet in strong core markets with excellent demographics. These properties have a combined gross occupancy of 94.5 percent with an average household income and population of $96,000 and 72,000, respectively, within a three-mile radius.
During the second quarter, Kimco acquired what it described as five “high-quality” shopping centers comprising 435,000 square feet for approximately $97.3 million. It acquired the remaining 70 percent interest in a 680,000 square foot grocery-anchored “power center” in upscale Towson, Md. for $127 million. The center included a Wal-Mart, Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Babies R US/Toys R Us.
Kimco also acquired a 90 percent interest in a 140,000-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Edmonton, Alberta.
At the same time, it sold 10 properties for approximately $77.6 million and was in contract negotiations to sell 12 other properties worth approximately $120 million.
Kimco, a real estate investment trust, owned interests in more than 900 shopping centers across 44 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and South America.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
