Anderson Arbor is located in the high-traffic Hwy 183 corridor, minutes from the new rapidly-expanding West Parmer Lane high-tech business center home to Apple, eBay, Oracle, PayPal, and Polycom
Strengthens Whitestone’s Strategically Located High-Quality Open-Air Shopping Center Portfolio
Increases Scale and Presence in Fast-Growing Sunbelt Markets
Provides Additional Value-add Opportunities for Whitestone to Leverage for Shareholders
HOUSTON, Dec. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Whitestone REIT (or “Whitestone” or the “Company”) (NYSE:WSR) today announced that it has acquired the multi-tenant in-line retail space of Anderson Arbor, an open-air shopping center in northwest Austin, Texas. The center is located in the intersection of Hwy 183 and Anderson Mills Road N., which has a traffic count of more than 165,000 vehicles per day and is minutes from a fast-growing business district that is home to well-known high-tech brands, including Apple, eBay, Oracle, PayPal, and Polycom.
According to Esri and Best Places, the area within a 5-minute radius of Anderson Arbor has an average household income of $115,147, a median home value of $662,600 in the 78750 zip code area and a current population of 190,196, a 41.5% increase since 2000. Overall, based on a recently published job recovery report from Marcus & Millichap, the Austin market is the second fastest strongest jobs recovery market in the United States, having lost 142,000 jobs during the pandemic and roaring back today with 24,000 more jobs than pre-pandemic due to the continued wave of corporate and individual relocations to the Austin area. This acquisition further strengthens Whitestone’s strategically positioned portfolio to benefit from the Austin’s ongoing growth.
The purchase of Anderson Arbor is Whitestone’s second acquisition in 2021, which have been funded from cashflow, debt and proceeds from equity issuances, and it is Whitestone’s eighth acquisition in the Austin-San Antonio market, expanding the company’s total leasable area in the region to approximately 734,000 square feet of premium retail space. Anderson Arbor’s 89,746 square feet of retail space included in Whitestone’s acquisition currently is 90.9% leased. This acquisition creates economies of scale for the company’s existing Austin regional management team. It is projected to contribute $2.5 million to the company’s 2022 revenues.
Anderson Arbor’s major tenants covered in the acquisition include but are not limited to Bank of America, Kerbey Lane Café, Austin Emergency Center, SalonRepublic, Great Clips, GNC, The Melting Pot, and Double Dave’s Pizzaworks. Additional tenants in the portion of the center not owned by Whitestone include Gold’s Gym, Walgreens, Main Event Entertainment, and SpringHill Suites by Marriott, which is under construction and scheduled to open in January 2022.
Whitestone has additional value-add opportunities included with this acquisition — purchase of an additional undeveloped parcel and an additional existing multi-tenant pad. If Whitestone exercises these additional value-add opportunities, its owned square footage in Anderson Arbor would increase to approximately 100,000 square feet.
The center is a thriving 18-hour/24-7 destination with long-standing, predominantly eCommerce-resistant tenants who have deep roots in the community and provide a diverse range of essential goods and services and entertainment for the center’s neighboring communities.
“We are very pleased to continue executing our strategic growth plan for Austin according to our criteria for core markets, strategy, strengths, and attributes,” said Whitestone’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Mastandrea. “The addition of Anderson Arbor to our portfolio of community-focused lifestyle properties leverages our existing in-market resources at no additional cost. Anderson Arbor contributes to our long-term goals of improved G&A as a Percentage of Revenue and lowering our Debt to EBITDA Leverage. We see strong value-add opportunity with the property’s lease-up potential and built-in lease escalators.
“With the completion of this second acquisition for Whitestone in 2021, we continue to advance our due diligence on our deep pipeline of other targeted high-quality properties. In due course, we expect to initiate additional acquisitions that complement and contribute to our portfolio’s economy of scale and deliver improved returns for our shareholders, while we also remain focused on delivering operational excellence in our existing properties.”
About Anderson Arbor
Anderson Arbor is Whitestone REIT’s eighth acquisition in its Austin-San Antonio market, bringing its total leasable area in the region to approximately 734,000 square feet. The property is 90.9% leased. A thriving 18-hour/24-7 property, Anderson Arbor’s major tenants covered in the acquisition include but are not limited to Bank of America, Kerbey Lane Café, Austin Emergency Center, SalonRepublic, Great Clips, GNC, The Melting Pot, and Double Dave’s Pizzaworks. Additional tenants in the portion of the center not owned by Whitestone include Gold’s Gym, Walgreens, Main Event Entertainment, and SpringHill Suites by Marriott, which is under construction and scheduled to open in January 2022. For Anderson Arbor leasing information, contact Matt Okmin at 512-808-7212.
Whitestone REIT
Whitestone is a community-centered shopping center REIT that acquires, owns, manages, develops, and redevelops high-quality neighborhood centers primarily in the largest, fastest-growing and most affluent markets in the Sunbelt. It creates Communities that thrive through creating local connections between consumers in the surrounding communities and a well-crafted mix of local, regional and national tenants that provide daily necessities, needed services, entertainment, and experiences.
Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR) pays monthly dividends to its shareholders and it has consistently done so for more than 15 years. Whitestone’s strong balanced and managed capital structure provides stability and flexibility for growth and positions Whitestone to perform well through economic cycles. For additional information, please visit www.whitestonereit.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The Company intends for all such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe-harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act, as applicable. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” or similar expressions or their negatives, as well as statements in future tense. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, beliefs and expectations, such forward-looking statements are not predictions of future events or guarantees of future performance and our actual results could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. For a description of certain of such factors, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and the Company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise.
Investor and Media Contact:
Rebecca Elliott
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Whitestone REIT
(713) 435-2219
ir@whitestonereit.com
