CBRE Investment Management and MCB Real Estate Form Joint Venture to Acquire Seven-Property Grocery-Anchored Retail Portfolio

CBRE Investment Management has closed on the acquisition of a seven-property, nationally diversified grocery-anchored retail portfolio in a joint venture with MCB Real Estate, the firms announced. The portfolio totals approximately 1.1 million square feet across five states and is anchored by national and regional grocers including HEB, The Fresh Market, Kroger, Harris Teeter, and Safeway.

MCB Real Estate will serve as the operating partner responsible for asset management and leasing across the portfolio. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Portfolio Overview: Seven Grocery-Anchored Centers Across Five States

The seven properties in the portfolio are geographically diversified across Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Texas, with individual centers ranging from approximately 71,000 to more than 285,000 square feet:

• Riverview Shopping Center — Durham, NC (125,430 sq ft)
• Northlake Shopping Center — Mandeville, LA (165,086 sq ft)
• Preston Trail Village — Dallas, TX (152,150 sq ft)
• Marketplace Shopping Center — Temple, TX (285,518 sq ft)
• Sprouts Crossing — Hurst, TX (71,132 sq ft)
• Eagan Town Centre — Eagan, MN (153,233 sq ft)
• Kauai Village Shopping Center — Kapaʻa, HI (111,021 sq ft)

The centers are described by the firms as necessity-based, featuring daily-needs tenant mixes. Three of the seven properties are located in Texas.

Strategic Rationale: Durable Income and Limited New Supply

Executives at both firms pointed to structural conditions in the grocery-anchored retail sector as the primary driver of the investment thesis.

"Grocery-anchored retail continues to offer durable income, limited new supply and tenancy tied to non-discretionary consumer demand," said Colin Rosenbaum, Managing Director and Head of Americas Direct Commercial Transactions for CBRE Investment Management. "This portfolio expands our U.S. retail platform and positions the joint venture to capture mark-to-market rent growth and sustained leasing demand across necessity-based centers."

Liz Troni, Portfolio Manager for CBRE Investment Management's U.S. direct core strategy, echoed that view. "We've been building conviction in the durable income thesis of necessity retail for some time," Troni said. "New retail supply has been structurally constrained since the GFC, and grocery-anchored centers combine that scarcity with the daily-needs tenancy that holds up across cycles. This acquisition fits squarely with that conviction."

MCB Real Estate as Operating Partner

Under the joint venture structure, MCB Real Estate will serve as the operating partner, providing local market expertise along with asset management and leasing capabilities across the portfolio. The Baltimore-based firm manages approximately $4 billion in assets under management and owns or manages roughly 22 million square feet of commercial real estate nationally, with a development pipeline of nearly six million square feet spanning property types including industrial, office, retail, multifamily, mixed-use, and healthcare.

P. David Bramble, MCB's Co-Founder and Managing Partner, said the transaction reflects the firm's disciplined approach to deploying capital in the grocery-anchored segment. "Adding these institutional-quality and high-performing assets to our rapidly expanding national portfolio reflects both our conviction and the continued confidence investors have in grocery-anchored retail," Bramble said. "With historically low vacancy, limited new development, and steady consumer demand, grocery-anchored centers continue to deliver some of the most consistent performance across asset classes."

Bramble added that the partnership with CBRE Investment Management supported the firm's broader growth strategy. "Partnering with CBRE IM enabled a seamless and efficient transaction and reinforces our national growth strategy. We remain focused on pursuing value-add and core plus grocery anchored retail opportunities across primary and secondary markets."

Over the past 12 months, MCB Real Estate has completed acquisitions and taken on management responsibilities for more than $1 billion in commercial real estate assets across various U.S. markets, according to the firm.

CBRE Investment Management's Expanding U.S. Retail Platform

CBRE Investment Management, an independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE: CBRE), reported $155.2 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2026, across 20 countries. The firm's acquisition of this grocery-anchored portfolio is described as part of its U.S. direct core strategy, with the joint venture structured to pursue both income stability and potential rent growth across the seven centers.

No sale price, price per square foot, cap rate, or financing details were disclosed in connection with the transaction.