Real estate company Whitestone REIT (WSR 0.97%) has completed the purchase of neighborhood retail center Fountain Hills Plaza for $20.5 million.
The plaza is located in Fountain Hills, Ariz., and includes both a grocery and hardware store. With its purchase, Whitestone now owns 1.6 million square feet in the greater Phoenix area. Whitestone's gross leasable area consists of 20 community centers along with four stretches of land that are available for future development.
James Mastandrea, Whitestone's chairman and CEO, spoke enthusiastically of the new acquisition in a press release. "Fountain Hills Plaza is a well-located Class A Community Center that has a proven draw of national brand name tenants who pull additional customer traffic to the existing tenancy... Our purchase of Fountain Hills Plaza embodies Whitestone's acquisition strategy of purchasing off-market properties with significant value-add potential."
Whitestone's stock has dropped from $14.05 per share to $13.46 since the beginning of 2013, a 4% decline. The REIT has boosted its annual revenue by 51% since 2008, to $47 million.
