AEW Capital management has acquired the Bar W Marketplace shopping centre in Leander, Texas for $65.8m (€63.4m), on behalf of Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions (LAFPP).
The 189,507sqft centre has an H-E-B grocery store as its anchor tenant. Other tenants in the fully leased property include Chase Bank, Wells Fargo and Chili’s. The shopping center was developed in 2022 and 2024.
Mike Byrne, chief investment officer for AEW, said: “We think that grocery-anchored shopping centres are a property type that we are looking at more broadly now. We are well past the issues of COVID-19 and feel good about the performance of this property type going forward.”
AEW said it will be looking for similar properties to acquire.
Byrne said: “This would be grocery-anchored properties that are also located in areas that are showing strong population growth. This could be in many markets around the country.”
This latest acquisition is part of a separate account between LAFPP and AEW, according to a pension fund board meeting report.
The pension fund has also committed $10m to the Jadian Real Estate Fund II, which invests for niche property types, and invested $10m in WCP NewCold III, which invests in cold-storage properties.
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