ECHO Realty and TPG Acquire Water Tower Square in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania in First Joint Venture Deal
A newly formed joint venture between ECHO Realty and TPG has acquired Water Tower Square, a 269,018-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, from The Goldenberg Group. CBRE arranged the transaction, with the deal marking the partnership's first acquisition.
Property and Transaction Details
Water Tower Square is located at 751 Horsham Road, near the Five Points intersection where U.S. Route 202, Pennsylvania Route 309 and Pennsylvania Route 463 converge — a position that places it within one of the Philadelphia metropolitan area's established retail corridors. The center is anchored by The Home Depot, which occupies approximately 143,000 square feet, or roughly 53 percent of the property's total area, and Sprouts Farmers Market. Additional tenants include Planet Fitness, Flagship Cinemas, Bob's Discount Furniture, World Market and Miller's Ale House.
The Goldenberg Group had owned the property since 1992.
CBRE's National Retail Partners Team Represented the Seller
Chris Munley, Colin Behr, Ryan Sciullo and Casey Smith of CBRE's National Retail Partners team represented The Goldenberg Group in the transaction.
"Water Tower Square offered investors the opportunity to acquire a best-in-class shopping center in a dominant Philadelphia MSA retail corridor, anchored by a unicorn tenant in Home Depot," said Behr. "The transaction further underscores the strength of the region, serving as the first acquisition for the new Echo Realty and TPG venture and highlighting continued demand from new institutional capital."
Munley credited The Goldenberg Group's leasing strategy as a key driver of the outcome. "Congratulations to The Goldenberg Group on a tremendous execution at Water Tower Square," he said. "By securing Sprouts Farmers Market as a new anchor, they meaningfully enhanced the property's tenancy, strengthened its long-term fundamentals, and drove a significant increase in value. We're grateful to the Goldenberg team for the opportunity to represent them on this transaction, and we congratulate them on a well-deserved result."
Value Creation Through Re-Anchoring
The Goldenberg Group added Sprouts Farmers Market as a second anchor prior to the sale, allowing prospective buyers to underwrite a tenant lineup anchored by both a home-improvement retailer and a grocery operator. The combination of The Home Depot and Sprouts reflects two categories — home improvement and grocery — that generate recurring consumer traffic and are broadly viewed as more defensive than discretionary retail formats.
The broader tenant mix at Water Tower Square extends the center's draw across multiple trip purposes: fitness at Planet Fitness, entertainment at Flagship Cinemas, furniture at Bob's Discount Furniture, specialty retail at World Market and dining at Miller's Ale House.
First Acquisition for the ECHO Realty–TPG Venture
The transaction represents the inaugural deal for the ECHO Realty and TPG joint venture, signaling that the newly formed partnership is using an established suburban retail center in the Philadelphia market as its initial platform investment. The deal reflects continued institutional interest in necessity-oriented retail, as grocery-anchored and essential-retail properties have attracted buyers seeking durable cash flows supported by high-frequency anchor tenants.
CBRE is a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas and describes itself as the world's largest commercial real estate services and investment firm. The company has more than 155,000 employees serving clients in more than 100 countries.
Sources
CBRE Press Release: CBRE Arranges Sale of Water Tower Square in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania