Hackney Real Estate Pays $70 Million for Suburban Retail Center

A prominent retail shopping center in the Charlotte region has changed hands for $70.1 million.

Hackney Real Estate Partners acquired the Windsor Square Shopping Center in Matthews for about $107 per square foot, up from the $58.71 per square foot that Sterling Organization paid for it in 2003, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. Rad von Werssowetz of Berkeley Capital brokered the transaction, which closed in November.

The shopping center, spanning 654,000 square feet at 1814 Windsor Square Drive, boasts a tenant roster that includes major retailers such as Sam’s Club, Kohl’s and Ross Dress for Less.

With a 97 percent occupancy rate and an 82 percent appreciation in value over the last 20 years, Windsor Square stands as a strong addition to Hackney’s growing shopping center portfolio, which includes notable assets like the 272,200 square foot Franklin Square III in Gastonia and the 17,224-square-foot Crossroads Shopping Center in Statesville.

Retail vacancy in the Charlotte metro is sitting at 3.1 percent, according to Marcus & Millichap. Asking rents increased 4.2 percent this year to $19.78 per square foot. Meanwhile, just 820,000 square feet of development was expected to be delivered this year.

In addition to its holdings in North Carolina, the firm also manages properties in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia.

In addition to Sterling Organization’s sale of Windsor Square, the company, led by founder and CEO Brian Kosoy, recently sold a former Macy’s parking lot in Pompano Beach, Florida, for $8.8 million. That sale is part of a redevelopment by Morgan Group and Carlyle Group, who plan to build a 356-unit apartment complex on the site.

Sterling Organization is also converting a former Fry’s Electronics store in Fremont into a manufacturing and tech research site.

— Andrew Terrell