Irgang acquires Union Lake Crossing Shopping Center in Millville

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Irgang Group of Nyack, N.Y. purchased Union Lake Crossing, a 15-year-old 393,000-square-foot shopping center in Millville, the group announced Nov. 30.

The real estate investment and management firm acquired the 43.39-acre site from Goodman Properties. Union Lake Crossing is home to several large box stores including Target, Shop-Rite, Kohl’s, Ross Dress For Less, Staples and PetSmart.

Other tenants include Famous Footwear, Party City, Five Below, Buffalo Wild Wings, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Sonic.

More than 95% of the property’s occupied space is held by national tenants.

Route 47 is Cumberland County’s main retail corridor and has an average daily traffic count of 31,816 vehicles, Irgang said. Route 55, located about 1,000 feet from the property, has a daily traffic count of 27,300.

“Between its strategic location, dominant anchors and solid mix of sub-anchors and smaller tenants, Union Lake Crossing ranks as the most-visited open-air retail center within a 15-mile radius, drawing 4.1 million shoppers over the last 12 months,” said Irgang Group CEO Mark Irgang.

According to Irgang Group, ShopRite ranked as the second most visited grocer within a 30-mile radius—drawing 1.6 million visitors over the past 12 months.

“In the months ahead, we look forward to working with our broker, Metro Commercial Real Estate, on leasing up the balance of the center’s space, introducing new tenants that will make Union Lake Crossing even more appealing to residents in this region,” said Irgang said. “The upside from those opportunities, coupled with the Vineland-Millville market’s emergence as a growing center for cold storage and warehouse developments, made this acquisition very appealing to our group.”

Irgang Group was represented on the acquisition by Bruner Group President Ben Bruner, and Goodman Properties was represented by JLL Capital Markets, specifically Chris Munley, senior managing director; James Galbally, senior managing director; and Colin Behr, senior director.

“Throughout the last 12 to 18 months, we have seen exceptionally strong demand from investors for grocery-anchored centers,” said Galbally. “The majority of the investor demand is coming from groups that haven’t traditionally invested in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, and haven’t previously invested in the retail asset class. If this demand continues, we will continue to experience accelerated cap rate compression.”

The acquisition of Union Lake Crossing is Irgang Group’s second retail property transaction in the past three months after the company’s acquisition of a neighborhood shopping center in Atlanta in September.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]