Barclay Farms Shopping Center in Cherry Hill was purchased by joint venture partners for $16.1 million.
Bergman Real Estate Group and Capstone Realty Group plan to create added value to the 87,750-square-foot center located at 1401 Marlton Pike on 13 acres, through capital improvements such as façade upgrades, new monument signage, lighting modifications, new landscaping and parking lot and sidewalk work. Lease-up of additional retail and/or medical office development is planned.
The center is currently 96% occupied.
Situated on Route 70 East, just off the Interstate 295 interchange, Barclay Farms Center has multiple points of access and no traffic signals. The property includes an additional 45,000-square-foot parcel ready for development. Current anchor stores include Planet Fitness, Dollar Tree and numerous restaurants and retail outlets.
“What initially attracted us to the site was its undeniable old-world charm, evoking nostalgic memories of your neighborhood shopping center that has that special character we all love,” Michael Bergman, CEO and president of Woodbridge-based Bergman Real Estate Group, said. “But, looking deeper, its vast expansion potential is what truly stood out — paving the way for diverse retail uses and even medical offices that we feel will create tremendous upside value.”
According to Brian Rand, director of acquisitions at Bergman Real Estate Group, the two companies were interested in Barclay Farms given the shopping center’s highly visible, accessible location in a dense, in-fill area with favorable demographics. Cherry Hill is less than 10 miles from Philadelphia, making the location an easy-to-visit one for city residents and southern New Jersey residents alike. These factors, coupled with the increasing consumer demand for service-oriented retail experiences, made Barclay Farm an intriguing investment opportunity for the two companies.
“This deal continues the trend of strong demand for experiential and service-based retail that was boosted by the pandemic,” Rand said. “Consumers realized, once their ability to enter public places was taken away, how much these experiences meant to their overall mental and physical health. Humans are social beings, and being able to go out and enter establishments, whether to eat, get a haircut or any other experience, plays a significant role in our overall happiness,” he said.
“This acquisition was appealing to us because it lends itself to more expansion capability,” Rob Friedberg, managing partner of Capstone, said.
“We have a lot of flexibility to expand the center and accommodate additional retail and high-end medical office requirements. The development could accommodate a boutique supermarket or grocer, a discount wine or liquor center and multiple freestanding pad sites,” Brad Gillman, managing partner of Capstone added.
“For over 30 years, Bergman Real Estate Group has established itself as a leader in the New Jersey office market, assembling a portfolio of over 2.25 million square feet in 22 buildings,” Bergman said. “Barclay Farms is our first retail acquisition and represents our current business plan to diversify into other commercial real estate assets, including industrial/flex, medical office and multifamily properties.”
Jason Wolf, exclusive leasing agent at WCRE, is handling the remaining leasing opportunities, which include in-line units as small as 1,880 square feet, pad sites from 2,000 square feet up to 6,000 square feet, and expansions up to 45,000 square feet.
Steven Fleissig of Greenberg Traurig LLP represented Bergman and Capstone on the transaction. CBRE’s Jerome Kranzel from the Philadelphia Capital Markets team was the sales agent representing the seller, Kaiserman Co., which owned the property for over 20 years.
