FAMECO NEGOTIATES SALE

OF TILGHMAN SQUARE, ALLENTOWN, PA

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA.— Fameco Real Estate, L.P., the region’s foremost full service retail real estate firm has completed the sale of Tilghman Square located in Allentown, PA.

Fameco Senior Directors, Dan Shabel and Ron Cappello represented the seller, Lamar Companies, and Fameco’s Andrew Trabold represented the buyer, Larken Commercial Properties, in the transaction.  The cap rate was 9.3%. Tilghman Square is a 230,000 sf community center located at the intersection of Broadway and Hausman Road. Anchored by AMC Theatres, Staples, Planet Fitness and Amelia’s Grocery, the center is located in one of the strongest demographic pockets in the Lehigh Valley.  Because of the lack of liquidity in the marketplace, procuring financing for a property in this price range posed substantial challenges to completing the transaction.  Larken was able to consummate the purchase without utilizing traditional permanent financing vehicles.   According to Dan Shabel, “the strength of the center’s location carried it through the most difficult economic times we have seen in seventy to eighty years.  Maintaining over a 95% occupancy rate as many other retail centers faltered, Tilghman Square still possesses significant upside potential based upon the organic growth of rents of its existing tenants, as well as new leases at higher rents as the economy improves.  In addition, at some point in Larken’s ownership of the asset, there may be an opportunity to modernize the movie theater, which will upgrade the property as a whole and revitalize the center in a manner commensurate with the strong demographics of the west side of Allentown.”     

Fameco specializes in retailer representation, owner representation, investment sales and management services in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and beyond. The firm is the exclusive representative for over 200 shopping centers and retail properties totaling 17 million square feet, manages more than 11 million square feet of retail space and exclusively represents more than 75 retailers expanding in the tri-state area.   Fameco's Investment Sales Team has completed transactions in excess of $1 billion.  Fameco is the ChainLinks member shareholder in the Delaware Valley. ChainLinks is the nation's largest retail-only real estate provider with 62 regional brokerage firms in the U.S. and Canada.

For more information on Lamar Companies please visit their website www.lamarproperty.com

January 15, 2010