Chicago developer buys Miracle Mile shopping center

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Chicago developer has snatched up a prominent shopping center in Monroeville, as it continues to expand its retail and office footprint in the Pittsburgh region.

M&J Wilkow is acquiring the iconic Miracle Mile shopping center on Route 22 as part of a joint venture with Alto Real Estate funds.

Ten Capital Management, a Cleveland, Ohio, real estate investment management firm, announced the sale of its limited partnership interest in the shopping plaza Monday.

The purchase price was $78 million, according to Commercial Real Estate Direct, an industry publication.

Allegheny County real estate records show that the shopping center was last purchased in 2005 for $52 million. According to its release announcing the sale, Ten Capital acquired its interest in 2014. The shopping center is assessed at $40.2 million.

Marty Sweeney, M&J Wilkow senior vice president, declined comment.

The real estate company is taking over a high-performing retail property at a time when many shopping malls and centers are struggling because of online sales.

Miracle Mile, which opened in 1954, is 98 percent occupied, up from 94 percent when Capital made its acquisition. Anchor tenants include Marshalls, Old Navy, Office Max, DSW and LA Fitness.

Rent increases averaged more than 9 percent for new and existing tenants during the time Ten Capital held the property, according to Paul DiSandro, the company’s portfolio manager.

The acquisition is the latest for M&J Wilkow in the Pittsburgh area. The Chicago firm now owns more than 3 million square feet of space in the region. It has spent $335 million acquiring properties locally.

Holdings include two side-byside office buildings on Stanwix Street Downtown — the former Westinghouse Building on Stanwix Street, which it bought for $81.3 million in February, and 20 Stanwix, which it acquired for $38.1 million in 2015.

M&J Wilkow also owns the 154,000-square-foot former Art Institute of Pittsburgh building at 420 Boulevard of the Allies. It is converting that into an office building with open floor plans and amenities such as a tenant lounge, a fitness complex, and a 60-person