Acadia Sells Queens Retail Property to JP Morgan for Roughly $50M

The Shops at Grand Avenue is 100 percent occupied and anchored by Stop & Shop. Other tenants include Party City, CityMD, Starbucks, Ridgewood Savings Bank and discount store Five Below.

The high-performing retail property has a weighted average lease term of eight years. Stop & Shop occupies more than half of its space with 52,336 square feet on a lease that expires in January 2032 and includes renewal options, sources said. 

The deal closed Monday, after being “quietly marketed” by Newmark’s Adam Spies, Adam Doneger, Josh King, Dan O’Brien and Monica Brendsel, sources said.  

Acadia bought the property for $56 million — or $560 per square foot — in 2014 from AEW Capital Management, CoStar reported. Built in 1963 and renovated in 1996, it sits in a prime location in close proximity to the Long Island Expressway and Queens Boulevard, and also includes 336 parking spaces. 

While retail generally received the “redheaded stepchild” moniker throughout the pandemic, grocery-anchored retail has proved to be one of the more resilient asset classes throughout recent market headwinds, and for good reason. 

With their tenancy more necessity- than want-based, cash flows and occupancy are far more stable than other retail assets. Further, several properties are often double-net or triple-net leased, and the shadow of e-commerce is less ominous, according to a report from Matthews Real Estate Investment Services. 

As such, several savvy investors continue to pursue grocery-anchored retail today — including J.P. Morgan. 

Officials at Acadia Realty Trust and Newmark weren’t immediately available for comment. J.P. Morgan Asset Management officials declined to comment. 

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.