KENOSHA, Wisc., Aug. 3, 2021 – Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), announced today the sale of Southport Plaza and Indian Trail Plaza, two adjacent regional shopping centers comprising 407,367 square feet in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The assets sold for $43.5 million to a Florida-based high-net-worth private buyer.
The sale was brokered by a team of IPA agents who had the exclusive agreement to market the property on behalf of the seller, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Craig Fuller, Scott Wiles, and Erin Patton, IPA senior managing directors, led the sales team along with Jared Shapiro, associate. Todd Lindblom, vice president and regional manager, is IPA’s broker of record in Wisconsin.
“We executed a thorough marketing strategy and registered dozens of unique buyers through our deep pool of active private equity groups and IPA’s comprehensive platform,” commented Fuller. “Our team identified the buyer during the first week of marketing and ultimately awarded that investor the deal after a highly competitive open bidding process that involved several qualified purchasers and multiple rounds of offers.” The buyer, also represented by Fuller, Wiles, Patton and Shapiro, secured new permanent bank financing at 76% loan-to-value.
“Anchored by Kohl’s, Fresh Thyme, and Hobby Lobby with a strong supporting cast of junior box and small-shop retailers, the centers are the dominant retail destination in the Kenosha market, which is part of the Chicago MSA,” added Patton. “The properties were 92% occupied at the time of sale, giving the buyer a strong cash-flowing asset below replacement cost and several opportunities for upside.”
Southport Plaza was constructed in 1996 and Indian Trail Plaza was built in 2006. Both centers are located at the major intersection of Green Bay Road and 75th Street. Kohl’s recently signed a 10-year extension at this top-performing location, which has been in place since 1994 and is the only one in the 150,000-person Kenosha market. Additional junior box tenants include The Room Place, OfficeMax, Petco, Fresenius Kidney Care, Party City, Dollar Tree and Five Below. “Five outparcel strips housing a variety of retail stores, restaurants, medical services, and service-oriented small-shop tenants were included in the sale, which gives the buyer an opportunity to execute a parcellation strategy in the future, if desired,” added Shapiro.
“The sale of Southport Plaza and Indian Trail Plaza marks our team’s second recent large shopping center sale in Wisconsin,” noted Wiles. “We marketed East Town Plaza in Madison during the COVID-19 pandemic and sold it in May to a New York-based high-net-worth buyer for $20 million, which was 97% of the list price. These recent sales, along with others our team has closed year-to-date, exemplify the strong demand from private capital for well-positioned regional shopping centers in primary and secondary markets throughout the Midwest.”
“We expect 2021 shopping center transaction volume to exceed pre-COVID levels as the in-place yields, cost-to-replacement value, and upside potential for many large shopping center offerings are unmatched by other commercial asset classes,” concluded Fuller. “The private buyers that were active prior to the impact of COVID-19 are back in full force and aggressively pursuing acquisitions, allowing sellers to capitalize on one of most opportunistic times we’ve seen for large shopping center dispositions in the past decade.”
