Retail centers boasting brand-name department stores and grocers are hot today. More proof of this came in the Cincinnati market, where the Voice of America Centre in West Chester, Ohio, recently sold for a big $68.6 million price tag.
The retail center — more than 435,000 square feet in all – is anchored by a busy Target store. But it also features The Fresh Market, an upscale grocery store; T.J. Maxx; Petsmart; Michael’s; and Office Depot. Those are all quality tenants, which made the Voice of America Centre an enticing investment opportunity.
Subsidiaries of MetLife Core Property Fund GP LLC, based in New Jersey, purchased the property from previous owners VOA I Development Co. LLC and VOA II Development Co. LLC.
The center is a busy one for Cincinnati-area shoppers, and has been since opening in 2004. Midland Atlantic completed the retail center after buying about 75 acres of land from the federal government for $6.8 million.
Retail centers have attracted plenty of activity in the Cincinnati area. In April of last year, an affiliate of American Realty Capital bought the Streets of West Chester retail center, spending $35.7 million for the property. In July, Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust spent $150 million to buy Bridgewater Falls in Fairfield Township along with another shopping center in Minnesota.
