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Anderson Arbor is located on the busy Hwy 183 corridor, minutes from the new, rapidly expanding, high-tech business hub West Parmer Lane, home to Apple, eBay, Oracle, PayPal and Polycom
Strengthens Whitestone’s strategically located portfolio of high quality open air shopping centers
Increases scope and presence in rapidly growing Sunbelt markets
Provides Whitestone with additional value creation opportunities for shareholders
HOUSTON, Dec. 6, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Whitestone REIT (or “Whitestone” or the “Company”) (NYSE: WSR) today announced the acquisition of Anderson Arbor, an open air, multi-tenant inline retail space – Shopping mall in northwest Austin, Texas. Located at the intersection of Hwy 183 and Anderson Mills Road N., which has more than 165,000 vehicles per day, the center is minutes from a fast-growing business district with well-known high-tech brands including Apple, eBay, Oracle, PayPal and Polycom.
According to Esri and Best Places, the area within a 5-minute radius of Anderson Arbor has an average household income of $ 115,147, an average house value of $ 662,600 in the 78750 zip code, and a current population of 190,196, an increase of 41.5% since 2000. Overall, based on a recent job recovery report by Marcus & Millichap, the Austin market is the second fastest job recovery market in the United States, having lost 142,000 jobs during the pandemic and 24,000 today leaving more jobs than before pandemic due to the ongoing wave of corporate and individual relocation to the Austin area. This acquisition further strengthens Whitestone’s strategically positioned portfolio to capitalize on Austin’s continued growth.
The Anderson Arbor acquisition marks Whitestone’s second acquisition in 2021 funded by cash flow, debt and equity issue proceeds, and it marks Whitestone’s eighth acquisition in the Austin-San Antonio market with all of the rental space of the company in the region on around 734,000 square meters of premium retail space. Anderson Arbor’s 89,746 square feet of retail space, included in Whitestone’s acquisition, is currently 90.9% let. This acquisition creates economies of scale for the company’s existing regional management team in Austin. It is expected to add $ 2.5 million to the company’s revenue in 2022.
Major Anderson Arbor tenants affected by the acquisition include Bank of America, Kerbey Lane Café, Austin Emergency Center, SalonRepublic, Great Clips, GNC, The Melting Pot and Double Dave’s Pizzaworks, among others. Additional tenants in the portion of the center that is not owned by Whitestone include Gold’s Gym, Walgreens, Main Event Entertainment and SpringHill Suites by Marriott, which are under construction and due to open in January 2022.
With this acquisition, Whitestone offers additional value creation opportunities – the purchase of another vacant lot and an additional existing multi-tenant pad. If Whitestone pursues these added value opportunities, it would increase its own square footage at Anderson Arbor to approximately 100,000 square feet.
The center is a thriving 18-hour / 24-7 destination with long-standing, mostly eCommerce-resistant tenants who are deeply rooted in the community and provide a diverse range of essentials and services, as well as entertainment for the center’s neighboring communities.
“We are very excited to continue implementing our strategic growth plan for Austin based on our criteria for core markets, strategy, strengths and characteristics,” said Jim Mastandrea, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Whitestone. “The addition of Anderson Arbor to our portfolio of community lifestyle properties leverages our existing resources in the marketplace at no additional cost. Anderson Arbor contributes to our long-term goals of improving P&A as a percentage of sales and reducing our debt-to-EBITDA leverage. We see strong value creation opportunities with the rental potential of the property and the integrated rental escalators.
“With the completion of this second acquisition for Whitestone in 2021, we are continuing our due diligence on our extensive pipeline of other targeted high quality properties. We expect to initiate additional acquisitions in due course that will add to and add to the economies of scale of our portfolio and deliver improved returns to our shareholders while we continue to focus on achieving operational excellence in our existing properties. “
About Anderson Arbor
Anderson Arbor marks the eighth acquisition by Whitestone REIT in its Austin-San Antonio market, bringing the total lettable space in the area to approximately 734,000 square feet. The property is 90.9% let. Anderson Arbor is a thriving 18-hour / 24-7 property. Anderson Arbor’s main tenants covered by the acquisition include Bank of America, Kerbey Lane Café, Austin Emergency Center, SalonRepublic, Great Clips, GNC, The Melting Pot, and Double Dave’s Pizza Factory, among others. Additional tenants in the portion of the center that is not owned by Whitestone include Gold’s Gym, Walgreens, Main Event Entertainment and SpringHill Suites by Marriott, which are under construction and due to open in January 2022 512-808-7212 .
Whitestone REIT
Whitestone is a community-centric mall REIT that acquires, owns, manages, develops and redevelops high quality neighborhood centers primarily in the largest, fastest growing and most affluent markets in the Sunbelt. It creates communities that thrive by creating local connections between consumers in the surrounding communities and a well-designed mix of local, regional and national tenants providing the daily needs, services, entertainment and experiences needed.
Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR) pays its shareholders monthly dividends and has been for over 15 years. Whitestone’s strong, balanced and managed capital structure provides stability and flexibility for growth and enables Whitestone to perform well in economic cycles. More information is available at www.whitestonereit.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act” ” ). The company intends that all such forward-looking statements will be subject to the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified through the use of forward-looking terminology such as “could”, “should”, “could”, “would”, “predicted”, “potentially”, “further”, “expected”, “anticipated”, “future” , “Intends”, “planet”, “believes”, “estimates” or similar expressions or their negations and statements in the future. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, beliefs and expectations, such forward-looking statements are not predictions of future events or guarantees of future performance and our actual results may vary significantly from these Statements differ in the forward-looking statements. For a description of certain of these factors, please see the “Risk Factors” section of the company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and the company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking information contained herein speaks only as of the date of this press release, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, unforeseen events or otherwise.
Investor and media contact:
Rebecca Elliott
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Whitestone REIT
(713) 435-2219
ir@whitestonereit.com
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https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/12/06/2346521/7647/en/Whitestone-REIT-Adds-Anderson-Arbor-in-Austin-Texas-to-Its-Fast-Growing-Region-Advancing-Its-Growth-Plan-for-Its-97-Occupied-Austin-San-Antonio-Portfolio.html
