Dutch Retail Fund Enters Savannah Market

SAVANNAH, GA-Holland-based DIM Vastgoed NV has added its eighth Georgia shopping center to a portfolio that includes 17 centers totaling 2.5 million sf in the Southeast. The publicly traded Dutch real estate fund paid Atlanta-based Melaver Family Properties Inc. $13.5 million or $154.16 per sf for the 87,818-sf Wilmington Island Shopping Center at 461-499 Johnny Mercer Blvd.

The acquisition is “the first of several acquisitions we have planned in the Savannah area,” says AJ Belt, chief operating officer of DBR Asset Management LLC, the Fort Lauderdale, FL-based company that directs and manages the fund’s US operations. “Real estate opportunities continue to abound in Georgia, and DBR will continue to acquire well-positioned commercial real estate in the prime growth areas of the state as well as in other comparable markets throughout the southeastern US.”

A 42,156-sf Kroger Supermarket anchors the 19-tenant Wilmington Island Shopping Center, which was developed and redeveloped in three phases in 1978, 1998 and 2004. The property was not officially on the market, Belt says. The deal took 45 days to complete, from contract signing to closing. Melaver was the original developer.

DBR located the Savannah center, negotiated the purchase contract and handled all due diligence. The firm has procured $96 million of commercial real estate for DIM in Georgia over the past two-plus years, Belt says. His company will manage the new acquisition along with the seven other Georgia-based retail centers. The eight Georgia centers total 633,000 sf.