A Maryland-based investment group has purchased the Henderson Mall property on Dabney Drive. The first order of business was to rename it Henderson Pointe.
Broad Reach Retail Partners, LLC specializes in acquiring properties with anchor tenants like grocery stores, Walmart and Target. The former Mall property has a Food Lion, as well as other retailers Roses, Badcock Furniture and Harbor Freight.
Christian Lockamy, director of the Henderson-Vance Economic Development Commission, told WIZS News there has been a shifting supply and demand for this type of retail space since COVID-19 began.
“There has been a lot of movement in retail,” Lockamy said. Newer companies are “swooping in” with mergers and acquisitions as older investors are looking for ways to exit the retail market. The purchase amount was not disclosed, but Broad Reach targets properties between $5 million and $50 million, according to a list of criteria on its website.
Lockamy said Broad Reach specializes in shopping centers that also are in proximity to areas that are seeing continued development – for example, the Beckford Drive/Graham Avenue area of Dabney Drive. The property, which has more than 188,000 square feet of retail space, currently has a 72 percent occupancy rate.
“There continues to be strong investment demand as convenience-oriented retail, particularly strong grocery-anchored retail, has weathered the pandemic well,” said Nate McKay, Broad Reach Retail’s acquisition officer.
“We are finding great success in acquiring high-volume Food Lions,” McKay added. “They have outstanding tenant credit and are an excellent draw to the centers they anchor.”
The investment group recognizes the value a property like the former Henderson Mall has in the community and Broad Reach CEO Nate Tower said Broad Reach can add to that value by revitalizing the property and “filling retail voids to support the needs of the local residents.”