Canadian firm plans to purchase Norwin Town Square for $18.9M
Norwin Town Square along Route 30 in North Huntingdon is expected to have new owners early next year, after an agreement was signed to sell the shopping center to a Canadian-based real estate investment trust for $18.9 million.
Colony Norwin LLC of North Huntingdon reached an agreement with Slate REIT of Toronto earlier this month to sell the 53-year-old shopping center between Lincoln Way and Malts Lane, said Donald P. Tarosky Jr., 29, one of three partners in Colony Norwin. The deal should be completed in the first three months of next year, pending customary closing conditions, Slate REIT stated on its website.
Colony Norwin is part of the North Huntingdon-based Colony Holding Companies, a real estate investment firm owned by Donald P. Tarosky Sr., Donald P. Tarosky Jr. and Joseph Spirer.
Colony Norwin purchased Norwin Town Square from Violet Soffer and Donald M. Soffer in June 2012 for $4.3 million, according to documents filed with the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds.
Darrell Shipp, a spokesman for Slate Retail, declined to comment. With more than $1 billion in assets, Slate REIT owns and operates 68 grocery-anchored shopping centers across Pennsylvania and 20 other states, providing income for investors, according to its website.
The 1950s-era shopping center, which the North Huntingdon Commissioners declared blighted and deteriorated in November 2013, underwent extensive reconstruction and modernization after Colony Norwin purchased it. It is 100 percent leased, Tarosky said, with a Shop 'n Save supermarket, Petland, a car dealer, a fitness center and restaurants.
The deal was set in motion in May when Tarosky said he made contact with representatives of Slate REIT during a real estate convention. He worked with Slate representatives over the summer and fall, doing due diligence on the property, including checking the roofs of the buildings, he said. The company typically updates the existing commercial properties it buys, gets the leases in order, then sells the property, Tarosky said.
While Colony Holding works to finalize the deal to sell Norwin Town Square, the company is making plans to begin development of the proposed 75,000-square-foot Huntingdon Marketplace along Mills Drive early next year, with a target opening date in late October, Tarosky said.
“We're making sure everything fits and ... making sure it is not a hodge-podge” of businesses, Tarosky said.
The key to developing a successful shopping center is to be selective with tenants, Tarosky said.
Colony Holding has developed commercial properties in Unity, White Oak, East Huntingdon, Monroeville and Streetsboro, Ohio, as well as residential properties in North Huntingdon, Tarosky said.
Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-5252.
