Inland Real Estate buys Marketplace at Tech Center in Newport News

Inland Real Estate Income Trust Inc. announced the acquisition Tuesday of one of Newport News largest and newest shopping destinations. The Oak Brook, Ill.-based company said it bought the 210,000-square-foot Marketplace at Tech Center, because the grocery-anchored development is a “terrific addition” to its retail portfolio. Inland did not disclose the purchase price for the retail component of what has been envisioned as a larger $250 million mixed-use development.

“Marketplace at Tech Center is a terrific addition to Inland Income Trust’s retail portfolio because of its exceptional variety of high-caliber grocery, restaurant, clothing and retail offerings,” Mitchell Sabshon, president and CEO of Inland Real Estate Investment Corp., said in a statement. “With its diverse tenant mix, strong demographics and ideal location near major employers, including the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Marketplace at Tech Center is a dominant retail property in the market and is well positioned for future growth.”

Mark Cosenza, vice president of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions Inc., facilitated the purchase of the property behalf of Inland Income Trust.

Newly constructed in 2015 by the W. M. Jordan Co. in Newport News, the shopping center is located on the busy Jefferson Avenue corridor at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Oyster Point Road. It’s near about 172,000 residents living within a five-mile radius. A 39,998-square-foot Whole Foods grocery store opened at the location in November.

In addition to Whole Foods, other tenants include several first-to-the Peninsula retailers including DSW Shoe Warehouse,  BJ’s Brewhouse and P. F. Chang’s China Bistro. Other retailers include Ulta Beauty, Five Below and AT&T.

John Lawson, CEO of W. M. Jordan, could not be reached for comment. He, along with SJ Collins, based in South Carolina, have been the developers behind the center. The larger master plan for the Tech Center includes 230,000 square feet of retail, 290 apartments, and 30,000 square feet of specialty office space.  In the second phase of devleoper there also are plans for an adjacent research park planned around the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, a federally funded laboratory.

Local officials hope that the U.S. Department of Energy will choose the lab as the site of an electron ion collider facility, which would bring a second underground facility there, but that decision may be years away.

The Daily Press reported last month that W. M. Jordan has asked the city to enter into a formal public-private partnership for the planned research park. The newspaper said progress on the research component can’t move forward until W. M. Jordan can secure land for the project from the city, its economic development authority and the school board, which currently has a school bus facility on a portion of the site.