Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of Kearny Square, a 138,895-square-foot Class A retail center anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club in Kearny, N.J. Bentall Kennedy’s U.S. Core Fund purchased the property from the original developer.
Kearny Square was delivered in 2016 with frontage along heavily trafficked Passaic Avenue, and is shadow-anchored by ShopRite, New Jersey’s dominant supermarket chain. The property is situated just one mile north of I-280 and less than five minutes from downtown Newark and the burgeoning Harrison area. At the time of the sale, Kearny Square was 100% leased to 13 tenants. The Center’s nationally-recognized tenant roster consisting of fast-casual eateries and personal well-being services, as well as a wholesale club with a grocer, makes Kearny Square uniquely resistant to e-commerce competition.
Cushman & Wakefield’s East Rutherford, N.J.-based Investment Sales Team, including Andy Merin, David Bernhaut, Gary Gabriel, Brian Whitmer, Seth Pollack, and Frank DiTommaso II represented the seller and procured the buyer. According to the team, the offering received a significant amount of interest from regional and national institutional and private buyers.
“Kearny Square is distinguished by its location within Kearny’s redevelopment district, a UEZ Zone that offers a variety of sales and use tax exemptions and other incentives,” said Merin. “The area is also being transformed into a vibrant residential and retail neighborhood, with a 280-unit residential project under construction directly across from Kearny Square that will provide new and attractive residential apartments to the area and will bring in additional young professionals and other consumers.”
“The urban infill location of Kearny Square is a perfect fit,” observed Whitmer. “The immediate areahas a dense and growing population but has lacked retail services and amenities. Kearny Square fulfills this need and is well-positioned for long-term success as it continues to service this rapidly growing community.”
“The superior quality of this property and the long-term growth potential of the area was a major attraction,” noted DiTommaso. “Of equal importance was the excellent job that the developer did positioning the property as a dominant retail center, and the diligent and detailed activity on the part of the buyer, Bentall Kennedy.”
This submarket consists of approximately 9.7 million square feet in 1,273 buildings located in Hudson County. It is the fourth largest retail submarket in Northern New Jersey, and has the second highest occupancy with just 3.1% of available space, below the 4.9% vacancy rate for Northern New Jersey overall.
About Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield is a leading global real estate services firm that delivers exceptional value by putting ideas into action for real estate occupiers and owners. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest real estate services firms with 48,000 employees in approximately 400 offices and 70 countries. In 2017, the firm had revenue of $6.9 billion across core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, advisory and other services. To learn more, visit www.cushmanwakefield.comor follow@CushWakeon Twitter.
About Bentall Kennedy
Bentall Kennedy, a Sun Life Investment Management company, is one of the largest global real estate investment advisors and one of North America’s foremost providers of real estate services. Bentall Kennedy serves the interests of more than 550 institutional clients with expertise in office, retail, industrial and multi-residential assets throughout Canada and the U.S. Bentall Kennedy is comprised of Bentall Kennedy (Canada) Limited Partnership, Bentall Kennedy (U.S.) Limited Partnership and the real estate and mortgage operations of their affiliates. Bentall Kennedy is a member of UN PRI and a recognized Responsible Property Investing leader ranked among the top firms around the globe in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) for the seventh consecutive year since GRESB was launched.
For more information, visit www.bentallkennedy.com.
