A pair of investors with a long history of bringing dying shopping centers back to life have signed a contract to purchase the increasingly desolate Marketplace, a consultant working for the buyers confirmed Wednesday.
The names of the investors were not publicly disclosed Wednesday pending the finalization of the sale, but the consultant, Josh Rector of Charlottesville, said the pair has rehabbed at least 48 shopping centers over the past two decades. They currently own 10 around the mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions of the U.S.
Rector said that they’ve already been quietly marketing the site for four or five months and have signed letters of intent with several new tenants. If all of those leases come to fruition as expected, the shopping center is poised to have a 65 percent occupancy rate on day one, up from 10 percent today.
