18K-sq.-ft. Philadelphia center sells for $14 million

With new retail real estate construction at a near all-time low, prices for even ordinary centers are reaching all-time highs.

Brandywine Realty Trust just sold a 17,884-sq.-ft. strip center in the Philadelphia suburb of Radnor for $14.2 million. The center’s anchors are restaurants--Estia, Pietro's, Honeygrow and Buena Onda—that serve the busy and affluent community.

“200 N. Radnor Chester Road was one of the most highly sought-after shopping centers we’ve marketed over the past few years, reinforcing the growing investor demand for convenience assets,” said Jim Galbally senior managing director of JLL Retail Capital Markets, which brokered the sale to a private investor.

The 100%-occupied center was built in 2014 and has a weighted average tenure of 7.5 years. JLL’s $14.2 million sale comes as CBRE’s latest U.S. Retail Report showed a 10-basis-point decline in open retail space during the third quarter, with the retail availability rate down to 4.8% in the third quarter, the lowest it’s been since the company started tracking the market in 2005.

Further displaying limited retail availability, Simon Property Group, the nation’s biggest mall owner and operator, reported gains in occupancy, base rent and net income in the third quarter.

“With very few shopping centers ever coming available for sale on the Main Line of Philadelphia, market interest was incredibly high with pricing reflecting a scarcity premium from the high-quality nature of the real estate," said another senior managing director at JLL, Chris Munley.

The property is located within the master-planned Radnor Financial Center, a coveted submarket of the greater Philadelphia area. Retailers operating at 200 N. Radnor Chester Rd. have access to an affluent customer base and proximity to traffic driven by Villanova University and Penn Medicine’s 2020-built outpatient care facility, as well as the financial center.