Vineland, NJ — ON the very last day of 2020, Aspen Real Estate in a joint venture with Devli Real Estate, closed on the $13.7 million purchase of the 138,000 s/f MainTree Shopping Center in Vineland, NJ. Aspen won the purchase contract on the Nov 20th TEN-X auction and had to scramble to close within 40 days. The time frame was very tight due to both Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays.
This is Aspen and Devli’s fourth joint venture purchase and the second purchase off the TEN-X platform. Prior to this acquisition, the JV purchased two office complexes totaling over 320,000 s/f and the 220,000 s/f Freehold shopping center.
The Maintree shopping center is another Value Add investment for Aspen. Aspen principal, Philip Proetto said, “even with Covid cases rising, it is very difficult to acquire a supermarket anchored center, in great condition, with 4 PADS included, at only $100 psf. The sales of the major tenants at the center have actually increased during the Covid restrictions and we already have interest from new tenants to lease the 27,000 s/f of vacant stores. The property will provide immediate cash flow as well as the opportunity to increase value through leasing of vacant space and adding 5th PAD”. Devli principal, Mark Devli, noted that select retail investments still provide reliable cash flow.
“Mid-sized, local shopping centers can have the perfect mix of tenants that do not compete against internet. While most investors are running away from retail investments, this sector offers us the opportunity to achieve out sized returns”.
Joe French and his team at Marcus and Millichap represented the seller in this transaction.