New Owners Take Over Shopping Centers In Prince William County

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — Two shopping centers in Prince William County — in Woodbridge and Gainesville — are changing hands as one real estate developer aims to expand its already large footprint in Northern Virginia and the other is making its entry into the region.

ALTO Real Estate Funds acquired Prince William Square, a 232,957 square foot, 89-percent leased shopping center in Woodbridge, from Rosenthal Properties for $37.9 million, the company announced Feb. 5. This transaction marks ALTO's first acquisition in the Northern Virginia market.

The shopping center, located across from Potomac Mills on Smoketown Road, is home to Ross Dress for Less, MOM's Organic Grocer, dd's Discounts, Ashley Furniture, Harbor Freight Tools, Jo-Ann Fabrics and other stores.

"Prince William Square is a huge win for our fund to get a foothold in the mid-Atlantic, one of the fastest growing and most desirable areas in the US," Yaniv Melamud, CEO and co-founder of ALTO Real Estate Funds, said in a statement. "With the recent addition of dd’s Discounts and mix of organic grocer and necessity-based retailers, the asset has the potential to add value over time through lease-up of vacant suites, while providing current cash flow."

In another recent deal, Peterson Cos. purchased The Shops at Stonewall, a 322,000-square-foot shopping center in Gainesville, from Regency Centers Corp. for $82.6 million, according to a Washington Business Journal report. The shopping center is anchored by a Wegmans and is fully leased, the report said.

Other tenants include Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Ross Dress for Less, Michaels, Dick's Sporting Goods, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Dunkin’, Jersey Mike’s and The Bone BBQ.

Peterson, a major developer in the D.C. region, announced last month that it is partnering with a data center developer to build a large data center campus in Manassas that, in its initial phase, will cover 25 acres and include 700,000 square feet of data centers that could begin to come online as soon as late 2020.