CBRE announced the sale of The Sunbelt Retail Growth Portfolio, a 2.3 million square-foot portfolio comprised of 13 open air shopping centers, to Slate Grocery REIT, an owner and operator of U.S. grocery-anchored real estate.

CBRE’s National Retail Partners team represented the seller, a joint venture between New York-based real estate investment firm Madison International Realty and SITE Centers, an Ohio-based real estate investment trust.

The 13-property portfolio includes seven properties in Florida, two in North Carolina, and one in Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio and Virginia. Ten of the centers are grocery anchored and the portfolio was 97 percent occupied at the time of sale. Across the portfolio, the weighted average anchor tenure is over 17 years while weighted average shop tenure is over 10 years. There is a total population of 2,395,711 within a five-mile radius of the properties.

“The Sunbelt Growth Portfolio transaction was strategic for all parties,” said Casey Rosen, Executive Vice President at CBRE. “The seller was able to accretively accelerate dispositions within a portfolio they are winding down and the buyer acquired properties in some of the nation’s strongest demographic and retail markets with opportunities for lease-up, remerchandising and cash flow growth through below-market leases expiring completely in the near future.”