Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT III and Northwestern Mutual Enter into JV

Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT III  and Northwestern Mutual have entered into a joint venture to create Grocery Retail Partners II (GRP II). Northwestern Mutual will invest in three high-quality, grocery-anchored shopping centers currently owned by PECO III across three states.

Under the terms of GRP II, Northwestern Mutual will acquire a 90 percent interest in the three-center portfolio which is currently valued at $46.5 million. PECO III will maintain a 10 percent ownership in the portfolio while its sponsor and manager, Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (PECO), will provide asset management and property management services for the joint venture. PECO III intends to deploy the proceeds from GRP II to further expand its growing portfolio of grocery-anchored centers.

“Investing in grocery-anchored real estate alongside a well-respected institutional investor like Northwestern Mutual, which has over 150 years of commercial real estate experience, is a meaningful affirmation of the robust fundamentals in our sector,” commented Jeff Edison, chairman and CEO of PECO III. “The capital provided by this joint venture gives us the ability to accelerate growth in our portfolio while we are still in the early stages of our development.”

Rob Francour, portfolio director of commercial real estate acquisitions at Northwestern Mutual added, “The advantages of the PECO III joint venture are two-fold: first, we have the opportunity to invest in well-located grocery-anchored real estate, and second, we gain access to PECO’s fully-integrated operating platform and their experienced management team. Together, we believe this venture will be mutually beneficial over the long-term.”