San Francisco — In response to an increased demand for retail property management services, JLL has agreed to acquire Shelter Bay Retail Group, a retail property management firm based in Mill Valley, Calif. The addition of Shelter Bay’s 74 urban and suburban, open-air shopping centers is expected to increase JLL’s third-party retail property management portfolio in the United States by 6.5 million square feet to a total of 83.5 million square feet.
The properties are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose/South Bay, Central and Southern California, and Arizona. The acquisition is expected to close later this month.
“Owners and investors of open-air retail real estate properties and portfolios are increasingly outsourcing property management to third-party experts as a cost-effective alternative to in-house management. Combining the retail strength of our two firms under one roof allows our current and prospective clients to tap into our national network of experts and expanded service offerings on the West Coast,” says Greg Maloney, CEO of JLL Americas Retail.
Shelter Bay’s entire team of 30 experts is expected to join JLL at closing. Stephen Robertson, chairman of Shelter Bay, joins as director of retail business development, West Coast. Sondra Van Metre, president and CEO, joins as director of retail property management, West Coast. Together, they will lead the combined organization’s West Coast retail property management operations.
The management teams for the properties will remain intact to ensure a seamless transition when the transaction closes.
JLL’s retail business has more than 125 retail brokerage experts spanning more than 30 major markets, representing more than 670 retail clients. As the largest third-party retail property manager in the United States, JLL’s retail portfolio has more than 620 centers, totaling 77 million square feet under management in regional malls, lifestyle centers, grocery-anchored centers, power centers, central business districts, transportation facilities and mixed-use projects. For more information, visit www.jllretail.com.
SOURCE: Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc.