Investment firm buys ShopRite-anchored retail center in Millville

December 1, 2021 | Published in Real Estate NJ | By Joshua Burd

An investment firm has expanded its portfolio in the region with the purchase of a 393,000-square-foot, grocery-anchored shopping center along Route 47 in Millville.

The buyer, Irgang Group, paid an undisclosed sum for what’s known as Union Lake Crossing at 2100 North 2^nd St. The Nyack, New York-based firm acquired the roughly 43-acre site from Goodman Properties, touting its recently expanded and remodeled ShopRite supermarket and a tenant roster that is almost entirely made up of national operators.

Irgang Group CEO Mark Irgang also highlighted its location in the heart of Cumberland County’s regional shopping hub, noting that Union Lake Crossing ranks as the most-visited open-air retail center within a 15-mile radius. He added that the site has drawn 4.1 million shoppers over the past year.

“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,” Irgang said. “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.”

Built in 2006, Union Lake Crossing is shadow-anchored by Target and is home to Kohl’s, Ross Dress for Less, Staples and PetSmart. Other tenants include Famous Footwear, Party City, Five Below, Buffalo Wild Wings, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Sonic.

Irgang and Metro Commercial are now hoping to lure additional tenants in categories such as apparel, furniture, home décor, home improvement and others.

“We currently have many active proposals which are being negotiated for the center,” said Joseph Dougherty, principal and executive vice president with Metro Commercial. “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.”

Located at the intersection of Route 47 and Union Lake Boulevard, the property draws from a primary market that includes 94,062 people in 33,580 households within a seven-mile radius, Irgang said. What’s more, the 73,740-square-foot ShopRite ranked as the second-most-visited grocer within a 30-mile radius, drawing 1.6 million patrons over the past 12 months.

Ben Bruner, president of the Bruner Group, represented Irgang Group in the deal, its second retail acquisition in the last three months. JLL senior managing directors Chris Munley and James Galbally and Senior Director Colin Behr represented the seller.

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

Behr added that Irgang “acquired exactly what most investor groups are pursuing during this competitive process, while Galbally said that yhe majority of the investor demand for grocery-anchored centers “is coming from groups that haven’t traditionally invested in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, and haven’t previously invested in the retail asset class.”