Palatine shopping center sold for $20 million

The Deer Grove Centre shopping center in Palatine was acquired Wednesday by a Michigan-based real estate investment trust for $20 million in cash.

The 236,000-square-foot shopping center. at the corner of Rand and Dundee roads, is the second purchase of a suburban retail center by Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust of Farmington Hills, Mich. The company earlier this year acquired Mount Prospect Plaza in Mount Prospect.

Deer Grove Centre is 81 percent leased, according to the company, and stores include Petco, Dress Barn, Staples, Dominick’s and Target. TJ Maxx/Home Goods will open a new 50,000-square-foot store at the shopping center this fall.

The company said it is in negotiations with a number of national retailers to strengthen the center’s tenant mix and increase occupancy.

“Deer Grove is a solid, value-add acquisition that supports our strategy of purchasing high-quality properties that we can immediately improve by executing leases to fill existing vacancies and by tenant spaces occupied by underperforming uses,” Dennis

Gershenson, president and chief executive officer, said.

The two shopping centers are about eight miles apart and will allow Ramco-Gershenson to attract retailers to both locations.

“Our current acquisition philosophy of acquiring market-dominant centers with a superior demographic profile that have upside potential will supplement long-term growth in net operating income,” Gershenson said.