Los Angeles, CA, Sept. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sterling Organization, a vertically integrated private equity real estate investment firm, has announced the acquisition of Union Plaza, a grocery-anchored shopping center located at the intersection of W. Union Hills Drive and N. 19thAvenue in Phoenix, AZ. The property was purchased in an off-market transaction from a private investor on behalf of Sterling Organization’s institutional grocery-anchored shopping center core fund, Sterling United Properties I, LP (“SUP I”), for $15.2 million or $154 per square foot.
The 98,701-square-foot shopping center was built in 1977 and is anchored by a 56,594-square-foot Fry’s Food & Drug, the No. 1 grocer by market share in the Phoenix MSA. Other tenants at the property include junior anchor Ace Hardware, Great Clips, Little Caesar’s Pizza, H&R Block and Cricket Wireless. The property is currently 99% occupied.
“Sterling was attracted to this investment opportunity for our SUP I fund due to its strong real estate fundamentals and location at a highly trafficked intersection in a densely populated submarket with approximately 140,000 people in a 3-mile radius,” said Ed Senenman, Senior Managing Director of Investments and Portfolio Management for Sterling Organization. “Fry’s Food & Drug, a division of Kroger, is the leading grocer in the Phoenix MSA and the Union Plaza store’s sales volume and health ratio are both particularly strong.”
“Union Plaza checks all the criteria boxes for our SUP I fund,” added Brian Kosoy, Managing Principal, President and CEO of Sterling Organization. “We expect Union Plaza will generate the solid and consistent cash flow returns we target on behalf of our SUP I investor partners. Our team continues to curate an exceptional portfolio of assets for our SUP I fund with very attractive risk-adjusted return investment characteristics.”
The property is Palm Beach, FL-based Sterling Organization’s second property in Phoenix after having acquired Palm Valley Marketplace in Goodyear, AZ, in June of 2017. Sterling, which opened an office in Los Angeles less than three years ago, now owns nine properties in the western United States. From coast to coast, the firm and its principals own approximately 10 million square feet of retail and other commercial real estate approaching $2 billion in value.
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About Sterling Organization
Sterling Organization is a vertically integrated private equity real estate firm that has an established track record of providing risk-adjusted returns to its partners, in both relative and absolute terms. The company’s national platform is focused on investing in value-add retail real estate assets and stabilized/core grocery-anchored shopping centers in major markets across the United States on behalf of Sterling’s principals in partnership with the highest quality institutional investors. Sterling Organization is headquartered in Palm Beach, Florida. For more information, please visit www.sterlingorganization.com.
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