FINMARC MANAGEMENT, INC. ACQUIRES 292,000 SQUARE FOOT SHOPPING CENTER IN ST. MARY’S COUNTY, MARYLAND FOR $28.4 MILLION
Posted on: 16/10/2014

Wildewood Shopping Center is 95% leased 

Finmarc Management, Inc., a Bethesda, Maryland-based commercial real estate firm, has announced the purchase of Wildewood Shopping Center, a 292,000 square foot regional shopping center located in California, Maryland in St. Mary’s County for $28.4 million. The retail project features multiple national anchor tenants including Bed Bath & Beyond; DSW Shoe Warehouse, JC Penney and Belk and is 95% leased and occupied.   Sandra Hunt of Scheer Partners represented the seller, New Jersey-based SJS Wildewood LP, in this transaction.

Built in 1989, renovated in 1998 and again earlier this year, Wildewood Shopping Center features a complementary mix of more than fifty retail stores and restaurants, including four free-standing buildings including Outback Steakhouse. Recently-opened tenants at the center include Bed Bath & Beyond and DSW Warehouse, while anchor tenant Belk completed a 16,000 square foot addition within the past several years. One free-standing pad site remains available for lease.

Fronting on MD Route 235 (Three Notch Road) and located near the intersection of MD Route 4, the shopping center is positioned approximately four miles from the Patuxent River Naval Air Station and less than forty miles from Washington, D.C. The St. Mary’s County market contains more than 200 defense contracting companies which cumulatively employ more than 23,000 workers and, according to the St, Mary’s County Department of Economic and Community Development, St. Mary’s is the fastest growing county in the State of Maryland.

“Wildewood Shopping Center is a stable and diversified retail center with extremely strong anchor and complementary tenants that serves the day-to-day shopping and dining needs of a steadily-growing consumer and business audience,” explained Marc F. Solomon, Principal of Finmarc. “After previously managing the property in the late 90s, our team has regularly tracked the St. Mary’s County marketplace and we have been consistently impressed with the strength of the demographics, including an average household income of more than $100,000 that is expected to grow substantially by 2019. The center satisfied each important element in our due diligence evaluation including the opportunity to build increased value over the long-term, a steadily growing population base with strong job growth and a highly-visible and easily-accessible location on the main corridor of the sub-market.”

More than 42,000 consumers reside and more than 16,000 households are contained within a five-mile radius of the center, with the population of St. Mary’s County expected to reach more than 130,000 people by the year 2020. According to figures from the local economic group, more than 90% residents are high school graduates, the county contains the highest percentage of high-technology employment in the region and the area features the highest concentration of millionaires in the United States.

With the purchase of this asset, over the past two and one-half years Finmarc, along with its partners, has acquired or disposed of more than $515 million worth of properties, and is on target to acquire approximately $20 million of additional properties by year-end.

Finmarc Management, Inc. is a fully-integrated commercial real estate company that focuses on the real estate investment, management, leasing and development of retail, industrial/flex projects, and office buildings throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. The firm presently manages a diverse portfolio encompassing more than five million square feet of space situated in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. For additional information, visit www.finmarc.com.