Mount Pleasant Towne Centre has a new owner.
Konover Property Trust Inc. said Thursday that it sold the 426,500-square-foot shopping center to DRA Advisors Inc., a registered investment advisory firm based in New York City, for about $55.3 million. The sale closed Wednesday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DRA is assuming about $46 million in mortgage debt, and Konover will receive about $9 million in net cash, the Raleigh, N.C., real estate investment trust said. Konover will keep providing management, leasing and marketing services at the center.
“Mount Pleasant is an outstanding property, but we had too much of our capital (approximately 14%) concentrated in this one asset,” said J. Michael Maloney, Konover’s president and chief executive officer. He said selling it “would most benefit our shareholders” as the company evaluates its strategic alternatives, and that the management contract lets Konover “develop a relationship with DRA, a major capital source for retail real estate, and stay engaged in this vibrant community.”
The center sits on 43.7 acres on U.S. 17 North, about five miles north of Charleston, and opened in 2000, according to Konover’s most recent annual report. Its major tenants include The Gap, Belk, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Bed Bath & Beyond and Consolidated Theatres.
The movie theater is the center’s biggest tenant by revenue. Consolidated Theatres leases 14.4% of the center’s space and produces 20.1% of its revenue, and the center was 94.8% occupied at the end of 2001, the annual report said. The mortgage is a $46 million term loan at 7.58% interest that runs to January 2011.
The center accounted for 14.2% of Konover’s total assets at the end of 2001 and 8.7% of its revenue for the year. No other Konover center accounted for a larger share of either, the annual report said.
The two sides signed their purchase agreement March 15, according to the filing. Konover now owns, directly or through joint ventures, 37 community shopping centers and one outlet center in seven states, with about 5.2 million square feet, the company said.
