CenterSquare Investment Management Acquires Five-Property Essential-Service Retail Portfolio Across Chicago, Cincinnati and Green Bay
CenterSquare Investment Management has acquired a five-property essential-service retail portfolio across three Midwest markets — Chicago, Cincinnati and Green Bay — the firm announced Aug. 4, 2026. The portfolio totals 66,877 square feet, is 93% leased at acquisition, and expands CenterSquare's national Essential Service Retail platform to 86 properties.
Portfolio Overview
The five properties are situated within established retail nodes in the Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Green Bay, Wisconsin markets. The tenant base skews heavily toward national and regional brands, with 81% of the portfolio's occupancy attributed to that category. Named tenants include Starbucks, Jersey Mike's, T-Mobile, Chipotle, Great Clips and Aspen Dental, among others.
CenterSquare characterized the acquisition as its second retail portfolio transaction — as distinct from single-asset deals — within the Essential Service Retail strategy. The portfolio's 93% leased rate at closing implies roughly 62,000 square feet of occupied space and approximately 4,700 square feet of remaining vacancy across the five assets.
CenterSquare's Essential Service Retail Strategy
CenterSquare Investment Management defines its Essential Service Retail vertical as targeting unanchored, service-oriented neighborhood centers in strong demographic submarkets. The strategy focuses on properties where tenants deliver essential services — including food and beverage, fitness, beauty, health and medical, and business services — that require customers to visit in person, positioning the assets as resistant to e-commerce displacement.
The Midwest portfolio acquisition is the latest in a series of transactions CenterSquare has executed under the ESR platform in 2026. Earlier in the year, the firm added three ESR retail centers, bringing the portfolio to 74 properties nationally, followed by additional acquisitions in Atlanta and Philadelphia that pushed the count to 76 properties. A May 2026 transaction added four more ESR centers, reaching 80 properties, before the acquisition of a portion of Geneva Commons — a lifestyle center on Randall Road in suburban Chicago — brought the total to 81 properties. The August Midwest portfolio acquisition carries that figure to 86.
In late 2024, CenterSquare announced a partnership targeting the acquisition of 30 to 40 additional ESR properties by the end of 2026, signaling the firm's intent to continue scaling the platform.
Broader 2026 Transaction Activity
Beyond its retail acquisitions, CenterSquare has also been active in the essential-service industrial segment. In June 2026, the firm acquired 2395 Pleasantdale Road, a 99,283-square-foot, 94%-occupied multi-tenant industrial building in Atlanta's Doraville submarket, as part of its Essential Service Industrial strategy. The business plan for that asset includes leasing remaining vacancy, repositioning space, addressing deferred maintenance and marking rents to market.
The Geneva Commons acquisition in May 2026 involved six buildings totaling approximately 87,649 square feet within the 418,000-square-foot lifestyle center at 620 Commons Drive in Geneva, Illinois. That portion of the center was 97% leased at acquisition, with tenants including White House Black Market, Five Guys, Sleep Number, Potbelly, Noodles & Company and Hacienda Real. The acquired portion transacted at $39 million, or approximately $448 per square foot.
Market Context
The Midwest portfolio acquisition comes as open-air, necessity-tenanted strip centers nationally are experiencing tight vacancy and stable capitalization rates. The format — unanchored neighborhood retail occupied by service-oriented national and regional tenants — has drawn sustained investor interest as the category's in-person service requirement insulates it from online retail competition.
Financial terms of the Midwest portfolio transaction, including sale price, price per square foot, capitalization rate, financing and seller identity, were not disclosed in CenterSquare's announcement.
Sources: CenterSquare Investment Management