GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. (NYSE: UBA and UBP), a real estate investment trust, announced today that yesterday it completed the sale of its 12,900 square foot Stratfield Market property located in Fairfield, CT (“Stratfield”). The property was sold to a local real estate development group for an all cash price of $1.2 million. Stratfield had been leased to Walgreens, and in connection with this sale the Company executed a lease termination pursuant to which Walgreens’ existing lease was terminated in exchange for a cash payment to the Company. Stratfield was purchased by the Company earlier in fiscal 2017 as part of a larger transaction in which the Company also acquired an equity interest in three other retail commercial properties. The sales price received by UBP coupled with the lease termination consideration UBP received was in excess of UBP’s basis in the property. The Company expects to invest the net proceeds from the sale and lease termination payment into retail properties located in its primary investment marketplace over the balance of fiscal 2017.
Commenting on the sale, Willing L. Biddle, UBP’s President and Chief Executive Officer said, “We are pleased to have disposed of this unoccupied property at a net profit to the Company and for the benefit of the Stratfield community, by identifying a buyer who is committed to renovating the property as a neighborhood food store. We were required to purchase the unoccupied property as part of a larger transaction earlier this year. The property was the former home of the beloved Stratfield Supermarket for over 30 years. It was leased in 2006 to Walgreens but sat vacant for eight years due to the community’s opposition to Walgreens. It was not a desirable situation for either Walgreens or the landlord. We were able to identify a buyer who intends to use the property for the sale of food, which is what the community wants, and we were further able to negotiate an early lease termination with Walgreens to make the transaction possible. Dylan O’Conner and James McCusker of the Stratfield Village Association, along with Michael Tetreau, the First Selectman of the Town of Fairfield, and the Town of Fairfield’s Department of Planning and Zoning were instrumental in facilitating this win-win-win solution for UBP, Walgreens and the Stratfield Village Association.
Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc. is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust which owns or has equity interests in 80 properties containing approximately 5.0 million square feet of space. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1970, it provides investors with a means of participating in ownership of income-producing properties. It has paid 190 consecutive quarters of uninterrupted dividends to its shareholders since its inception and has raised total dividends to its shareholders for the last 23 consecutive years.
Certain statements contained herein may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things, risks associated with the timing of and costs associated with property improvements, financing commitments and general competitive factors.
