BET Investments makes $150M in property purchases

BET Investments bought the Abington Shopping Center and a local student housing complex as part of a recent round of $150 million in acquisitions.

Low interest rates has served as one of the big drivers of the acquisitions.

In addition to the local buys, the Horsham, Pa., real estate company that was formed by Bruce E. Toll, also made out-of-state purchases as it expands its geographic footprint. It bought a student housing project in Tampa, Fla., and an apartment property in Northern Virginia.

Closer to home, it paid roughly $16.3 million for the Abington Shopping Center at Old York Road and London Road in Abington, Pa., from a partnership that involved real estate magnate Steve Guttman. The 75,000-square-foot center has a 36,000-square-foot vacancy caused by the closing of a Giant grocery store two years ago.

The center was constructed in the 1950s and is showing its age.

“We’re going to make a substantial investment into the property,” said Michael Markman, president of BET. Some of the upgrades include a new sign and facade. It will also fill most of the Giant vacancy with a national apparel retailer that Markman declined to disclose. A fast-casual food establishment will also move in and struggling existing tenants will eventually be replaced.

What makes this project particularly appealing to BET is both Toll and Markman live in Abington.

“Redeveloping a property in your own neighborhood and making things better is probably one of the most satisfying things you can do,” Markman said. “This is something that has been a real eyesore.”

BET also bought West Chester Commons, a 459-bed student house property at 230 E. Rosedale Ave in West Chester, Pa., for roughly $35 million and renamed it the Edge at West Chester. The company bought it from the Walters Group, a Barnegat, N.J., real estate firm that constructed the complex in 2004.

“We’re going to take a great property and improve it a bit to make it an example of our student housing portfolio,” Markman said.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal