CRC Closes Continental Realty Opportunistic Retail Fund I LP
Continental Realty Corporation, a Baltimore-based real estate investment and management company with $3.5 billion of assets under management, has announced the final closing of its Continental Realty Opportunistic Retail Fund I LP, a close-ended fund.
Collectively, CRC raised $240 million in equity, $200 million in the fund itself and $40 million in the two co-investment vehicles. Since 2012, CRC has raised almost $1 billion in equity for retail and multifamily investments across five real estate funds and multiple associated co-investments. The CRORF closing follows last summer’s closing of Core Multifamily Fund LP for which almost $150 million in private equity funds was raised.
CRC says CRORF was formed to create a vehicle to target and acquire a diversified portfolio of distressed, opportunistic and value-add retail properties throughout the United States.
“This equity for the CRORF provides our team the ongoing capacity to acquire national shopping centers that satisfy our investment profile, and to continue executing our proven strategy to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to our investor group,” explained JM Schapiro, chief executive officer of CRC.
Since the inception of CRORF in 2021, CRC has acquired nine retail properties comprising nearly 1.9 million-square-feet. Six of the nine properties are grocery anchored and CRC has now entered the suburban Chicago, Illinois and Troy, Michigan trade areas. At this point, CRC says the fund is already over one third invested.
Fund acquisitions include Banks Crossing, a 255,101-square-foot regional shopping center in Fayetteville, Georgia; The Shoppes at Webb Gin, a 330,000-square-foot lifestyle center in Greater Atlanta, Georgia; a portfolio of five shopping centers comprising more than 900,000 square feet of space in Cicero, Mount Prospect, Naperville, and Palatine, Illinois; and Oakland Plaza and Oakland Square, shopping centers located in Troy, Michigan, consisting of nearly 392,000 square feet of space.
CRORF targets neighborhood, grocery-anchored, lifestyle and power centers.
“Some investors are inclined to exit shopping centers, even though there is a notably different risk profile between malls and strip centers,” CRC’s David Donato, chief operating officer, said. “Some of our best shopping center purchases occurred following the economic downtown in 2009, when investors weren’t buying shopping centers and similar dynamics were in play. Today, many would-be market participants are presently sidelined. With this fresh infusion of capital, we intend to aggressively pursue open-air retail properties that consistently deliver long-term value to our investors. Our nimble capital and experienced team will enable us to take advantage of existing conditions as a preferred counterparty with a strong track record and certainty of close.”
Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland and founded in 1960, Continental Realty Corporation is a full-service commercial real estate and investment company focused on acquiring and operating retail and multifamily properties. The privately held firm owns and manages a diversified portfolio of retail centers consisting of more than seven million square feet of commercial space and over 9,000 apartment homes across 10 states, with a portfolio value exceeding $3.5 billion.
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