Kite Realty sold 23 assets, for a combined $544 million and at a blended cap rate of 8 percent in 2019. Those deals helped rearrange the firm’s portfolio so that 65 percent of net operating income derives from target markets. That is up from 57 percent in 2018. “We said at the outset that we were going to move swiftly to capitalize on market demand and compress the dilution period,” said Chairman and CEO John A. Kite. “And that is exactly what we did.”

Regency Centers, meanwhile, capitalized on what it calls unique acquisition opportunities, enhancing its portfolio quality through the addition of some $275 million of well-located properties with high growth potential, most notably The Pruneyard, in Campbell, Calif. “These acquisitions were funded in part by the sale of more than $200 million of lower-growth assets,” said President and CEO Lisa Palmer.

Kimco Realty sold 32 properties for a gross value of $542 million in 2019; Kimco’s share was about $375 million. The REIT’s net shopping center dispositions amounted to some $341 million. “As a result of the dispositions completed in 2019, we now own a portfolio of 409 shopping centers, tightly concentrated in our top 20 markets with substantial growth potential and densification opportunities,” Ross Cooper, the firm’s president and chief investment officer, told investors. The REIT has plans to sell an additional $300 million worth of assets in 2020 at a 7 percent blended cap rate, Cooper says, and the company will also purchase properties aggressively in its top 20 markets later in the year. “We plan to acquire between $100 million [and] $200 million of assets,” he said, “with cap rates in the 5 percent to 6 percent range.”

For its part, Cedar Realty classified three of its 56 properties, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as “real estate held for sale.” The REIT plans to market the centers for sale in the second half of 2020 and use the proceeds to fund densification efforts at other properties. “These are assets that have ripened,” said the firm’s CEO Bruce Chanzer. “They're in a good situation to be sold now as opposed to sitting on them where value could potentially diminish.”