State Farm buys Arlington Heights Mariano’s amid grocery-anchored retail surge

State Farm Life Insurance bought a suburban grocery store property for $25.5 million, investing in a sector of the market that remains coveted.

The Bloomington-based company acquired the property that’s home to the Mariano’s Fresh Market at 802 East Northwest Highway in Arlington Heights from an affiliate of Inland Private Capital, according to CBRE and Cook County records.

“Grocery-anchored retail continues to be sought-after by investors,” said Michael Kaider of CBRE, who along with Christian Williams represented Inland in the deal.

Indeed, grocery-anchored shopping centers have been more resistant to the factors that are hurting more traditional malls, a boon to players like Regency Centers, which owns 425 properties that are focused in affluent and densely-populated trade areas.

In the past few years, CBRE has arranged sales of six Mariano’s properties including deals in Palatine, Hoffman Estates, Frankfort, Lake Zurich and Harwood Heights.

Amazon’s recent purchase of Whole Foods, though, could disrupt the brick-and-mortar supermarket business.