Principal lends $32M to refinance fully leased Queens grocery center

An affiliate of Mattone Investors has refinanced Springnex Plaza, a 96,028-square-foot shopping center anchored by Stop & Shop in the Queens neighborhood of Springfield Gardens. The $32 million loan comes from Principal Financial Group, with Northmarq's Robert Delitsky and Charles Cotsalas arranging the transaction, Commercial Observer reported.

Springnex sits on 5.58 acres at 134-40 Springfield Boulevard and is 100 percent occupied. Besides Stop & Shop, the property's tenants include IHOP, fashion retailer Ashley Stewart, and Northwell Health GoHealth Urgent Care. Mattone developed the center six years ago, Delitsky said.

Delitsky said Mattone has "done a fabulous job maintaining very strong occupancy." Cotsalas expects supermarket-anchored centers like Springnex to continue pulling "very strong lender interest." The loan works out to roughly $333 a square foot, a figure that prices in income stability more than redevelopment upside.

Springnex is a workaday retail center: a supermarket anchor, a quick-service restaurant, and a couple of essential-service tenants. Those tenants generate recurring footfall, recurring footfall keeps the building full, and a full building is what lets a lender underwrite a $32 million check. For a principal deciding where to push their own refinancing, the deal is a useful marker: full occupancy and a grocery anchor still clear the bar.