A Minneapolis-based real estate investment trust has acquired the Fleet Farm at Pabst Farms in Oconomowoc for $36.42 million, according to real estate records.
The buyer, SR Realty Trust Inc., also announced the transaction in a news release. The 19.6-acre site the REIT acquired includes the 218,000-square-foot single-tenant retail building as well as a convenience store on an outlot, according to the release.
The two parcels involved in the transaction are assessed at nearly $29.95 million, according to Waukesha County records.
The Fleet Farm building was constructed in 2018. Evan Richardson, SR Realty vice president, said the store is 100% leased as part of a long-term triple-net lease.
As part of the transaction, SR Realty facilitated the down-leg of 1031 exchanges for three investors.
It is the firm’s first asset in Wisconsin. Metro Milwaukee also represents the seventh market SR Realty has entered into across five Midwestern states.
Richardson said in an interview that the firm will look for more investment opportunities in the Milwaukee area as it continues its expansion in the upper Midwest region.
“We view Milwaukee as an attractive place to be investing,” Richardson said.
SR Realty is a private REIT investing in commercial properties in the upper Midwest. The company’s portfolio totals more than 2.3 million square feet.
Richardson said SR Realty’s primary acquisition targets are industrial facilities, apartment buildings and net leased properties.
Pabst Farms is a 1,500-acre community located on former farmland in Oconomowoc. It includes residential neighborhoods, hotels, retail, an industrial park and a hospital (Aurora Medical Center Summit). Last summer, Milwaukee developer Mandel Group put forward plans to construct a 315-unit multi-family project in that area.
