Southmont Shopping Center

Acquisition Opportunity:

• Acquisition of a 50 acre farm parcel on Freemansburg Avenue in Bethlehem Township.
• Property was located at what would soon be the interchange of the under construction Route 33 extension and Freemansburg Avenue in the heart of Bethlehem Township, which is presently one of the fastest growing municipalities in Pennsylvania.
• The majority of the property was recently rezoned to Commercial from Residential.

Development Strategy:

• The rear 10 acres of the parcel was zoned Office/Business in an attempt to transition to the residential acres to the rear, this needed to be changed.
• We requested a text amendment that would allow retail development within that transition along with a substantial buffer area planting and berm.We needed to overcome some resistance from retailers because of some significant elevation changes on this site.
• This was accomplished by locating the anchor store (Lowes) at the highest point and rotating the medium boxes 180 degrees in order to face the entry way.
  

Result Achieved:

• By the time the property was 80% built, it was 100% leased.
• There has been zero turnover in the tenants since opening four years ago.
  Texas Roadhouse and TGIF has had some of the highest chain sales in the region.
• The cash on cash return on investment was 116% resulting in an Internal Rate of Return of 40%.

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