Sembler Heading to ICSC Las Vegas to Spotlight New Developments, New Acquisitions, and Leasing Opportunities

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – (April 14, 2022) – The Sembler Company will highlight its latest developments and leasing opportunities at this year’s ICSC Las Vegas Convention, May 22-24. Meet the Sembler team at Booth 6377.

“We’re very pleased to finally be back to in-person ICSC events, and are excited to tell our story”, said Sembler CEO Greg Sembler. “Since the last Las Vegas convention, we’ve started the construction of four new shopping centers, acquired four additional daily needs centers, commenced two new redevelopment projects, and built a healthy pipeline of developments and acquisitions.  Our niche of retail is thriving.”

LEASING

Occupancy over Sembler’s entire managed portfolio averages just over 95%, including Sembler-owned and third-party properties throughout the Southeastern U.S. and Puerto Rico.

“We’re seeing strong demand for shop space in our new grocery-anchored centers, and excellent activity on our outparcels from quick-service restaurants, automotive, medical, and service uses,” said Sembler Vice President of Leasing Eve Sembler. “There’s also been renewed interest from big box retailers… demand is strong!”

Sembler says, “We continue to see growth in the grocery sector, particularly in the southeast where residential growth is tremendous and accelerating.”

DEVELOPMENT

Sembler has over one million square feet under development right now throughout the southeastern U.S.

“We are thrilled with community responses to the new shopping centers we have brought on-line in the last two years. We are also very excited about the shopping centers we have under construction and the pipeline of centers coming soon.  The performance of retailers in the markets where we operate continues to be strong bolstering confidence in development activity.” said Josh Beyer, Senior Vice President of Development for Sembler.

While the grocery-anchored sector is a strategic focus for Sembler, the company is also actively working on complementary retail and mixed use projects including exclusive brokerage and development services for Ashley Furniture in select markets and build-to-suit projects with tenants such as Starbucks, Mavis Tire, Heartland Dental, Panera Bread, Chipotle, Chick-Fil-A, AT&T, Mandola’s Italian Kitchen and Skechers.

ACQUISITIONS

Sembler, both directly and through its venture with Forge Capital Partners in their Forge Real Estate Partners (FREP) investment funds, continues seeking to acquire shopping centers throughout the southeastern U.S. In their FREP funds, Sembler and Forge have now acquired 20 shopping centers together in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Texas.

“We’re fortunate to have teamed up with Forge on two successful private investment funds:  FREP III, which is fully invested, and FREP IV, which is nearing the end of its investment period.  We’ve acquired 20 centers with an aggregate value of well over $300 million together,” said Sean Davis, Sembler’s Chief Operating Officer. “We’d like to add a few more to our portfolio this year.”

The most recent acquisitions include:

• Conyers Square, a 90,218 square-foot retail center located in the Atlanta market. Anchored by Kroger, the center is currently 96% occupied.
• Daniels Crossing, a 112,003-square-foot retail center located in Fort Myers, Florida. Anchored by Publix, the center was 68% occupied at closing, but has already been leased to over 90%
• Lake City Commons, a 91,494 SF retail center located in the Atlanta market. Anchored by Kroger, the center is 95% occupied.

“We are particularly proud of our efforts to invest in low-to-moderate income areas where we can stabilize and improve shopping centers to better serve those areas and provide a more attractive, clean and safe environment to meet the needs of those communities, all while delivering excellent returns to our investors,” said CEO Sembler.

FREP is focused on the acquisition, development and redevelopment of retail real estate projects in the southeastern United States. FREP is a community development entity whose intent is to provide attractive returns to investors seeking socially responsible investment opportunities while promoting economic revitalization, business development, and job creation in or near low and/or moderate-income communities. Investors include public financial institutions that will receive credit under the Community Reinvestment Act for such investments.

About Sembler:

The Sembler Company is celebrating 60 years of creating retail real estate value. Sembler provides a full array of retail real estate services, including development and redevelopment, acquisition, property and asset management, leasing and other related services throughout the Southeastern United States. Sembler has developed more than 350 projects totaling 30 million square feet and currently leases and manages 8 million square feet. For more information, please visit www.sembler.com.