Irgang Group Acquires Union Lake Crossing Shopping Center in Millville, NJ

MILLVILLE, N.J., Nov. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In its second retail property acquisition this year, Irgang Group today announced the purchase of Union Lake Crossing, a 393,000-square-foot power center serving the greater Millville-Vineland market in southern New Jersey.

The Nyack, N.Y.-based real estate investment and management firm acquired the 43.39-acre site from Goodman Properties. Built in 2006, Union Lake Crossing is shadow-anchored by Target, and houses a mix led by a recently expanded and remodeled Shop-Rite supermarket, Kohl's, Ross Dress For Less, Staples, and PetSmart.

Other notable tenants include Famous Footwear, Party City, Five Below, Buffalo Wild Wings, Moe's Southwest Grill, and Sonic. Over 95% of the property's occupied space is held by national tenants.

Located in the heart of Cumberland County's regional shopping hub, the property is situated at the signalized intersection of North 2^nd St. (State Hwy. 47) and Union Lake Blvd., with easy access to State Hwy. 55, a major north-south freeway in southern New Jersey.

As the county's main retail corridor, Hwy. 47 has an average daily traffic count of 31,816 vehicles. A 2017 Master Redevelopment Plan established the Rte. 47 corridor as the nexus of all future economic development in the greater Cumberland County market. Meanwhile, Hwy. 55, located about 1,000 feet from the site, has a daily traffic county of 27,300.

"Between its  strategic location, dominant anchors and solid mix of sub-anchors and smaller tenants, Union Lake Crossing ranks as the most-visited open-air retail center within a 15-mile radius, drawing 4.1 million shoppers over the last 12 months," said Mark Irgang, CEO of Irgang Group.

The property draws from a primary market that includes 94,062 people in 33,580 households within a seven-mile radius. Average household income in the area is $71,574. But with its 73,740-square-foot ShopRite ranked as the second most visited grocer within a 30-mile radius—drawing 1.6 million visitors over the past 12 months--the property's patrons travel from well beyond the primary market.

"In the months ahead, we look forward to working with our broker, Metro Commercial Real Estate, on leasing up the balance of the center's space, introducing new tenants that will make Union Lake Crossing even more appealing to residents in this region," said Mr. Irgang. "The upside from those opportunities, coupled with the Vineland-Millville market's emergence as a growing center for cold storage and warehouse developments, made this acquisition very appealing to our group."

"We currently have many active proposals which are being negotiated for the center," said Joseph Dougherty, Executive VP and Principal with Metro Commercial. Targeted uses include apparel, furniture, home décor, hardware/home improvement, medical, entertainment, and restaurants. "In particular we have the potential to add coveted drive-through lanes for restaurants at an available endcap space as well as a yet-to-be-developed pad site," Mr. Dougherty added.

Irgang Group was represented on the acquisition by Ben Bruner, President of the Bruner Group, while the seller was represented by Chris Munley, Senior Managing Director; James Galbally, Senior Managing Director; and Colin Behr, Senior Director, all at JLL Capital Markets.

"Mark and his team were a pleasure to work with during the transaction. Acquiring a dominant ShopRite-anchored center such as this will be an excellent anchor to their growing retail portfolio," Mr. Munley said.

"With Union Lake being our team's 16^th grocery-anchored shopping center sale in 2021, the velocity behind well positioned properties of this type remains robust. Irgang Group acquired exactly what most investor groups are pursuing during this competitive process," stated Mr. Behr.

"Throughout the last 12 to 18 months, we have seen exceptionally strong demand from investors for grocery-anchored centers," Mr. Galbally added. "The majority of the investor demand is coming from groups that haven't traditionally invested in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, and haven't previously invested in the retail asset class. If this demand continues, we will continue to experience accelerated cap rate compression."  

For Irgang Group, which had previously focused on multi-unit residential and mixed-use properties in New York City, the acquisition of Union Lake Crossing marked its second retail property transaction in the past three months. In September, the company closed on the acquisition of Main Street South Fulton, a 129,449-squarre-foot neighborhood shopping center in metro Atlanta. Kroger anchors the 100%-occupied property, joined by such other notable tenants as Dollar Tree, Rainbow and Humana.

"We are excited about the opportunities in retail real estate and are pursuing other acquisitions along the East and West Coasts," said Mr. Irgang. "Our focus is on well-anchored outdoor centers ranging in size from 100,000 square feet to 500,000 square feet of gross leasable area.

Sellers or brokers with acquisition opportunities can contact Mr. Irgang, [email protected]. 

For leasing information on Union Lake Crossing, contact, Joseph Dougherty, [email protected]

For Investment Sales information at JLL, contact: Chris Munley – [email protected]; James Galbally – [email protected]; or Colin Behr - [email protected]                                                                                   

Media contacts: At Jaffe Communications Bill Parness, [email protected], (732) 673-6852, or Elisa Krantz, 4 [email protected] , (908) 789-0700.

SOURCE Irgang Group