Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors arranged the pre-sale of a new-construction, single-tenant ALDI at Litchfield Plaza shopping center in Litchfield, Illinois. The sale price was $1,675,000 for the triple-net absolute ground lease. This is Hanley Investment Group’s seventh ALDI investment sold or on the market in the last 12 months.
Hanley Investment Group’s vice president, Jeff Lefko, and executive vice president, Bill Asher, along with Alex Apter of LOCATION Commercial Real Estate of St. Louis (previously with L3 Corporation), represented the seller, Greater Missouri Builders of St. Charles, Missouri. The buyer was a private investor based in Illinois.
The 22,245-square-foot ALDI store, which opened on July 18, 2019, is located at 20 Litchfield Plaza and sits on 3.35 acres. Built this year, the ALDI in Litchfield Plaza has a 15-year, absolute triple-net ground lease in place that has rental increases every five years and renewal options.
“Due to strong sales, ALDI relocated from across the street to this site to grow and expand their space,” Lefko said. “ALDI owns the property that they are relocating from and has invested significant capital in this new, ground-up construction, which is further evidence of the company’s commitment to this location.”
There are 1.5 million people who live within a 50-mile radius of Litchfield, a natural stopping point for travelers between St. Louis and Chicago that is served by Interstate 55 and Illinois State Route 16. Litchfield Plaza is located minutes from Lake Lou Yaeger, a popular tourist destination attracting thousands of visitors each week from Chicago, St. Louis and Springfield, and is the closest retail to Lake Lou Yaeger.
“We successfully executed a pre-construction sales strategy and secured an all-cash, 1031 exchange buyer through a broker relationship and closed escrow before the tenant opened for business,” said Asher. “Buyers had so much interest in this site because you rarely see a tenant relocate from a building that they own.”
Other tenants within the ALDI-anchored shopping center include Dollar General, Glik’s, Hibbett Sports, Maurices, National Rent-to-Own, Pizza Hut, Salvation Army, Shoe Sensation, Taco Bell and Wendy’s. National credit tenants in the immediate area include Walmart Supercenter, Burger King, Jack in the Box, McDonald’s, Ruby Tuesday, Steak n’ Shake and Walgreens.
“This transaction further demonstrates Hanley Investment Group’s ability to use its national database to procure local Midwest buyers,” said Lefko. Last year, Lefko and Asher sold 2018’s lowest cap rate for a single-tenant, net-leased ALDI nationwide. The property, located in San Jacinto, California, sold for a 4.26 percent cap rate.
