Front Royal shopping center sells for $17.7 million

The JCR Cos. of Washington, D.C., has acquired Riverton Commons, a 69,496- square-foot shopping center in Front Royal for $17.7 million.

CBRE represented the seller, EDENS, and First Virginia Community Bank provided financing.

Riverton Commons is located on about 13 acres at the intersection of Interstate 66 and US Route 522. It’s part of a 500,000-square-foot regional shopping center anchored by a 201,000-square-foot Walmart supercenter.

Built in 2007, Riverton Commons is leased to local, regional and national tenants including Valley Health Systems Urgent Care, Great Clips, Mattress Warehouse, Sweet Frog and Anytime Fitness.

JCR plans to lease the existing vacant space and either develop or sell the property’s five pad sites, two of which are vacant land. “With a strategic location on Route 66 and its location within Front Royal’s dominant retail center, Riverton is a perfect fit for JCR,” Joe Reger, the company’s principal, said in a statement.

Situated about 70 miles west of Washington, in the Shenandoah River Valley, Front Royal’s population is growing. Since the 2000 census, the area’s population has increased by about 33 percent to a little more than 15,000. Many residents commute to jobs in or near Washington.

JCR said that Riverton Commons is its eighth shopping center acquisition since 2012. “We are continuing our aggressive acquisition of urban and suburban retail properties nationwide, with a concentration in the Washington, D.C.  metro area,” Reger said.