Business & Tech
Hastings Marketplace Under New Ownership
Hastings Marketplace, the local shopping center anchored by Harris Teeter, has been purchased by regional developer Black Oak Associates.
The Hastings Marketplace shopping center in Manassas, featuring Harris Teeter, now has new owners.
Black Oak Associates, a regional retail developer and investor based in Owings Mills, Md., purchased the shopping center March 4 and was “up and running” on the first day of ownership, said Black Oak partner Dara Hewat.
According to the Washington Post, McLean-based firm Rappaport took over the management and leasing responsibility in Sept. 2009 after Rockville-based developer Opus East LLC filed for Chapter 7 liquidation and handed the keys back to the lender U.S. Bank. Opus East is a subsidiary of the Minnesota-based Optus Group
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“We've been following this property for over a year,” Hewat said. “We started following it very closely when the lender closed and spent more time on it. We knew that Hastings would be going back on the market.”
The 95,000-square-foot center, anchored by the 56,000-square-foot Harris Teeter, is part of a 29-acre mixed-use development of the same name that stalled during the credit crisis. The recession did not deter Black Oak from seriously considering the Hastings property.
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“We like the growth prospects for Manassas,” Hewat said. “We like Harris Teeter as an operator and like the size of the shopping center.”
Black Oak also owns three properties in Eldersberg, Md., one in Baltimore, one in Westminster, Md. and one in York, Pa. In November the company purchased South Cumberland Marketplace, a 130,000-square-foot shopping center in Baltimore.
Hewat said the Hastings property is at nearly 70% capacity and they have “quite a few” tenant prospects that are interested. Bank of America and Verizon Wireless are among the current tenants at Hastings.
“A deal's never done until it's done, but we feel good about it,” Hewat said. “We're very comfortable with where we're at and making good progress.”
Opus East intended the larger mixed-use development project to include commercial space, single-family homes and loft apartments. The Post reported that the construction lender pulled the financing in early 2009 once the property's value declined along with many other properties.
