R.J. Brunelli brokers sale of ITC Crossing South Shopping Center (updated)

On Jan. 4, Old Bridge-based R.J. Brunelli & Co. LLC announced it brokered the sale of Morris County’s ITC Crossing South Shopping Center in December.

According to the announcement, Black Lion Investment Group purchased the 373,612-square-foot Mount Olive property. R.J. Brunelli represented a group of 26 tenants-in-common property co-owners in the transaction.

The firm also said it was retained by Black Lion, a commercial real estate firm led by 31-year-old industry entrepreneur Robert Rivani, to continue as exclusive leasing agent at the 46.72-acre property located at 10-50 International Drive S.

“We are beyond enthusiastic about the potential for growth at ITC Crossing South,” said Rivani, president of Black Lion, in a statement. “In true Black Lion style, we are going to add tremendous value for our current and future tenants by investing in a full scale renovation that has never been seen before in this trade area.”

ITC Crossing South is anchored by Lowe’s, TJ Maxx, Michael’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, PetSmart and Old Navy, and shadow-anchored by Walmart.

According to R.J. Brunelli President and Principal Danielle Brunelli, the firm is in negotiations to bring a national retailer to the center’s remaining big-box space, a former Babies R Us store totaling nearly 38,000 square feet. In November, the firm announced it completed a lease with Rita’s Ice at the property, one of several over the past year.

“At a time when a number of power centers are still struggling to back-fill vacancies arising from the wave of retail bankruptcies in 2019 and 2020 and the pandemic, the current 88%-leased rate at ITC Crossing South testifies to the quality of this real estate and R.J. Brunelli’s ongoing efforts to keep our tenant mix in tune with the needs of this market,” said Carol Scott, managing director of Los Angeles-based National Asset Services, which had served as asset manager for the center’s former owners. “These factors clearly contributed to the multiple offers we received for this property.”

R.J. Brunelli Vice President-Investment Sales/Principal Mario Brunelli was the sales agent on the transaction, Danielle Brunelli was the listing agent.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story indicated that when ITC Crossing South sold in 2017 the purchase prices was $5.8 million. That was incorrect; ITC Crossing North in Mount Olive was sold for $5.8 million in 2017. The article was updated at 6:51 a.m. EST on Jan. 7, 20222.