Weingarten Realty Investors purchases Seattle-area retail center

Shopping center owner Weingarten Realty Investors has bought the Covington Esplanade, a 187,388-square-foot, daily needs–focused neighborhood shopping center in the suburban Seattle community of Covington, Wash.

JLL marketed the property on behalf of the seller, who was not disclosed. And the financial terms were also not disclosed.

Anchored by Home Depot, the 97.7 percent-leased Covington Esplanade is also home to Red Robin, NorthWest Family Dental Care, IHOP, Bank of America, Verizon, Starbucks and more. The property was completed in 2008 and comprises seven separate parcels with uniform facades. The center is situated on 15.34 acres at 27027 SE 185th Avenue in Covington, a community equidistant between Seattle and Tacoma downtowns. Covington Esplanade is just off Highway 18, a major thoroughfare connecting south King County with Interstate 90, and has frontage along Highway 18, exposing the center to a combined traffic count of 65,000 vehicles per day. It is in a rapidly growing trade area and is visible to more than 66,000 vehicles per day. Additionally, more than 50,800 residents earning an average annual income of $112,359 live within a three-mile radius of the property.

According to a recent JLL Retail Outlook report, second-quarter 2019 net absorption in U.S. shopping centers (i.e., community, neighborhood and strip centers) remained positive at 1.9 million square feet, with the majority coming from neighborhood center demand.