Westwood Financial Buys Retail Near Austin’s Lake Travis

Westwood Financial added a West Austin asset to its growing portfolio of retail centers across the country.

The Los Angeles-based firm, led by CEO Mark Bratt, acquired the Trails at 620, a 69,000-square-foot retail property on 15 acres at 8300 North Farm to Market 620, the Austin Business Journal reported. The seller was Partners Capital, the investment platform of Partners Real Estate.

JLL’s Shea Petrick and Chris Gerard represented Partners Capital in the transaction, which closed last week; the price wasn’t disclosed.

It was Westwood’s first retail acquisition in the Austin area in years, and it fits within its broader strategy of acquiring and managing retail properties in high-growth markets. It has a portfolio spanning more than 125 shopping centers across cities including Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver, Los Angeles, Orlando and Phoenix.

The shopping center is 80 percent leased, and major tenants include AT&T, Freebirds, Green Mango and Action Behavior Center. The property’s location made it a key asset for Partners, which purchased it in 2020.

The transaction marked the final sale from Partners Capital’s Fund III. The firm’s latest, Opportunity Fund V, targets industrial, retail and office properties in markets across Texas and the Southeast.

Investor demand for retail centers has surged in Central Texas and throughout the South, said Cathy Nabours, managing principal of SRS Real Estate Partners and one of the agents who brokered the sale of the 26,000-square-foot Oaks at Slaughter in South Austin late last year.

Investors are also targeting other high-demand markets across the country.

For instance, Lakeland-based grocery chain Publix recently acquired a pair of shopping centers in South Florida for $67 million. Tourmaline Capital has also gotten in on the action, buying a 356,300-square-foot shopping center in East Denver for $58 million, or $163 per square foot.

— Andrew Terrell