Gorman/Abrams JV Acquires Whiteland Town Center In Exton, PA

by Steve Lubetkin, Globest.com
A joint venture between Gorman & Company and Abrams Realty & Development has acquired Whiteland Towne Center, a 359,673-square foot shopping center located at 229 West Lincoln Highway in Exton, PA, from Equus Capital Partners.

No purchase price was disclosed.

Built in 1988, Whiteland Towne Center is positioned at one of the major retail intersections serving all of Chester County, Route 30 and Route 100. Whiteland Towne Center is shadow-anchored by Kohl’s Department Store and Hobby Lobby, which opened in November 2016 following the departure of Acme Markets in 2012. The remaining shopping center is anchored by national retailers including Party City, Big Lots, Total Hockey, Famous Footwear, Petco and a new CVS Pharmacy is under construction as a freestanding store on a newly created pad site within Whiteland Towne Center at the main entrance off of Route 100.

“The recent leasing activity along with Whiteland Towne Center’s current occupancy of 79 percent provided investors a value-add opportunity to take advantage of the evolving retail market in Exton in an attractive demographic market with average household incomes exceeding $126,000. With very few sizable opportunities to come to market with superior positioning and comparable demos as Whiteland, investors were attracted to the prospect to build upon the 26,000 square feet of recent leasing and continue to transform the asset in one of the best retail submarkets serving the suburbs of Philadelphia. A perfect marriage existed in the end with the selected purchaser. Abrams Realty and Development brings over 20 years of retail expertise in developing and operating over 2.5 million square feet within the MSA coupled with Gorman & Company, the original developers of the largest office park within the Exton submarket, Oaklands Corporate Center, at over 2 million square feet.”

The principals of Gorman & Company, Jim Gorman and Chris Knauer, in a partnership with Jefferson Apartment Group, are also about to break ground on a 291-unit mid rise luxury apartment complex called Parkview located just a mile down the road from Whiteland Towne Center.

“We are obviously bullish on Exton,” says Gorman. “Whiteland Towne Center represents an opportunity to reposition an asset we know well, in a great township with an increasing demand for more services. Abrams is the perfect partner to help us execute this.”

Whiteland Towne Center is located on Routes 30 and 100 across from the Exton Square Mall. The property shares an intersection with a new Whole Foods scheduled to open in 2018.

Abrams Realty & Development will be managing and leasing the center on behalf of the partnership.
www.omegare.com