Urban Edge Properties have agreed to contract to buy seven retail properties comprising 1.5 million square feet of gross leasable area for $325 million. Located predominately in the New York City metropolitan area, the assets have been privately owned for the past four decades and are currently 83 percent leased. The contributors are exchanging their property interests for approximately $127 million of UE operating partnership units valued at $27.02 each. UE will also assume $33 million of existing debt, issue approximately $117 million of non-recourse, secured debt and fund the remaining $48 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2017.
Jeff Olson, Chairman and CEO of Urban Edge, stated, “Since the beginning of the year and including this transaction, we have announced or closed on ten acquisitions for $455 million including Hudson Mall in Jersey City, NJ, The Shops at Bruckner Plaza in the Bronx and Yonkers Gateway Center. These properties align with our strategy of owning and improving large, well-located properties in the New York City metropolitan area and investing at a meaningful spread to our cost of capital. In aggregate, these ten acquisitions are expected to generate a 5.7% initial cash unleveraged yield and net operating income should grow by more than 5% per year over the next five years prior to any impact from expansions or redevelopments.”
