Tedeschi Realty Corp. yesterday sold 25 shopping centers, most in Greater Boston, to a Colorado company for $377 million, in the largest transaction of its type in Massachusetts history, the Boston Globe reported.
The Tedeschi family will continue to operate and franchise 200 Tedeschi Food Shops
in the market, but it packaged and sold its strip retail centers, taking advantage of the enormous run-up in the values of commercial property. The buyer is Dividend Capital Total Realty Trust, based in Denver.
“The timing was great,” Terrence Tedeschi, president of Tedeschi Realty and son of the founder of the food and real estate company, told the Globe. “Interest rates have been low; valuations have been very high; and the portfolio was in good shape.”
The majority of the centers sold are anchored by a supermarket, in most cases Super Stop & Shop, but also Shaw’s in some. Ralph Tedeschi started the company in 1946, opening seven Tedeschi Supermarkets, then sold to Stop & Shop in 1961.
The company bought a chain of convenience stores in 1972, turned them into Tedeschi Shops, and after buying L’il Peach and Store 24 shops grew to own about 200 stores.
Tedeschi Realty is selling almost all of the shopping center properties, but another division of the family company will continue to operate the convenience stores. “Nothing relating to the food business has been sold or is for sale,” Tedeschi added.
