Midwest buyer goes on shopping center spree in the Charleston region

A Midwest real estate investment firm that made an offer to buy one local shopping center a few months ago ended up purchasing two in year-end deals totaling nearly $85 million.

Affiliates of InvenTrust Properties Corp. closed out 2024 by acquiring Nexton Square in Summerville and The Mill at Market Creek in Mount Pleasant, according to public land records.

The seller was Virginia-based Armada Hoffler Properties Inc., which was involved in the financing and development of both deals.

InvenTrust, a publicly traded company headquartered in Downers Grove, Ill., didn’t immediately respond to request for comment Dec. 31.

Nexton Square, the larger of the two properties, fetched $57.4 million. 

The 133,600-square-foot open-air lifestyle center, which can be further expanded, is at the entrance to the 4,500-acre master-planned Nexton development in lower Berkeley County, where as 10,000 housing units have been approved

The tenant lineup includes Halls Chophouse, Fuji Sushi and Taco Boy.

Work on Nexton Square began in 2018, led by North Charleston-based RealtyLink Commercial. As a financing partner, Armada Hoffler negotiated a “below market” purchase option for the property and completed the buyout in 2020, the company told its investors.

The cost of the development was estimated at $45 million.

Around the same time, Armada Hoffler formed a joint venture with locally based Adams Property Group to develop the Lowes Foods-anchored Mill at Market Creek shopping plaza along S.C. Highway 41, near Dunes West, Rivertowne and other subdivisions.  

InvenTrust paid $27.3 million for the 96,000-square-foot East Cooper property.