Kroenke Group acquires Greeley’s University Square shopping center for $23.92M – Greeley Tribune

Kroenke Group acquires Greeley’s University Square shopping center for $23.92M – Greeley Tribune

GREELEY — The real estate arm of sports franchise magnate Stan Kroenke added to its portfolio of Front Range retail space earlier this month by acquiring the University Square shopping center in Greeley.

A subsidiary company registered to the same address as the Kroenke Group’s Columbia, Missouri, office acquired the center from a subsidiary held by Chicago-based Walton Street Capital in a deal that closed March 8, according to Weld County property records.

The sale price is a 15% premium over Walton’s purchase price in 2015.

The 23-acre shopping center is located near the U.S. Highway 34-11th Avenue intersection and counts King Soopers, Jo-Ann Fabrics (Nasdaq: JOAN), Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SBH) and Ace Hardware as its most prominent tenants. It has approximately 237,128 square feet in gross leasable area.

The Kroenke Group is the real estate holding group for Stan Kroenke, who is most well-known as the owner of the Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rapids, Los Angeles Rams and other professional sports franchises.

The group has been active in buying commercial retail sites along the Front Range in recent years, including the Arbor Plaza in Fort Collins, the Belleview Promenade in Greenwood Village, Fox Creek Village in Longmont and most recently the King Soopers location in Windsor.

The Kroenke Group did not return a request for comment Thursday morning.

The sale marks the second time in recent months that Walton Street has offloaded a large-scale retail center in the region. McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc. was granted permission by a judge to begin the process of buying the Foothills shopping center in Fort Collins last month from Walton and Alberta Development Partners LLC for an undisclosed amount.

Foothills had received a foreclosure notice weeks before after falling behind on $46.59 million remaining on a $145 million construction loan.

Mark Bradley, managing broker at Realtec Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. in Greeley, said the 15% return on a property held for five years seems low compared with other types of real estate. He attributed that due to the effects of the pandemic and e-commerce’s popularity.

“I think that a lot of private equity companies are worried about being overinvested in retail properties,” he said.

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Published at Fri, 19 Mar 2021 01:29:00 +0000