Yahoo Finance Regency (REG) Acquires Plaza Venezia in Orlando, Florida
Retail REIT, Regency Centers Corporation REG declared that the company and its co-investment partner have acquired Plaza Venezia, which is a premier retail property in Orlando, FL. The move is in sync with the company’s policy of enjoying ownership of top grocery-anchored shopping centers in thriving areas. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed.
Anchored by Publix, this 201,000 square feet shopping center is on Sand Lake’s “Restaurant Row” and serves the prosperous Doctor Phillips and Bay Hill submarkets. The center offers scope for growth for the retailers and restaurants for being positioned in a thriving retail environment.
In fact, there is a solid daytime and evening traffic for being advantageously positioned near the I-4 and close to daytime employment hubs. Also, the Orlando convention center and Orlando’s top entertainment attractions are in its vicinity. This makes the property a solid buy for Regency.
Last month, Regency also announced that it will be acquiring Equity One, Inc. EQY, in an all-stock deal. The move would create a national portfolio of 429 properties, mainly grocery anchored, covering over 57 million square feet, including co-investment partnerships. (Read more: Regency to House 429 Properties with $5B Equity One Buyout)
In addition, Regency has considerable experience in the retail real estate industry, with 223 developments since 2000, denoting an investment at completion of over $3 billion. Recently, the company declared a new ground-up development project – The Village at Riverstone – in Houston, TX. The property would have Kroger Co. KR and other national and regional retailers as its tenants.
Moreover, it announced a new ground-up development – Chimney Rock – in Bridgewater, NJ, with an estimated cost of $70 million. Anchored by Whole Foods Market, Inc. WFM, the center will include several top national retailers.
Moving ahead, Regency’s focus on building a premium portfolio of grocery-anchored shopping centers augurs well. Such centers are usually necessity driven and attract huge traffic. Additionally, the presence of a cluster of leading grocers will cushion the company from market swings. However, intense competition and rate hike pose concerns for the stock.
Regency currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
In the past one month, shares of Regency have logged in a return of 0.5% against the 2.1% gain experienced by the Zacks categorized REIT and Equity Trust – Retail industry.
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