WSR - Whitestone REIT Acquires Garden Oaks Shopping Center | Benzinga
HOUSTON, Feb. 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) ("Whitestone" or the "Company") today announced the acquisition of the grocery-anchored Garden Oaks Shopping Center in Houston. The center, which contains 107,000 leasable square feet and is 96% occupied, is in the pathway of significant development, both residential and commercial, and sits on a major thoroughfare in the area. The Aldi-anchored center has a mix of 19 service and convenience-based tenants, including a top performing Planet Fitness. Nearly 30,000 vehicles per day pass by on North Shepherd Drive.
Garden Oaks Shopping Center
"Garden Oaks property values are up nearly 50% since 2019, and the area is poised to continue with very strong growth as young professionals settle beyond the Heights area and take advantage of the larger plots and tree-lined streets in Garden Oaks," said Whitestone REIT COO, Christine Mastandrea. "The center fits well with our strategy to own high quality centers that successfully serve the surrounding neighborhood."
The acquisition is funded through Whitestone's capital recycling efforts, focusing on portfolio improvement, through a disciplined capital recycling program that began in 2022 and now totals over $80 million in acquisitions. The program is anticipated to have sales equivalent to the total acquisition amount with 9 lower value creation potential centers sold to date and one anticipated sale in the first half of 2024. The 9 centers sold so far were sold at a combined capitalization rate of 5.9% based on trailing twelve-month NOI. Since the third quarter of 2022, Whitestone has acquired four high quality shopping centers, including Lake Woodlands Crossing, Dana Park Pad and Arcadia Towne Center.
"We are very pleased to add the Garden Oaks Shopping Center, which serves young, family-oriented ...