Indian Trail’s busy U.S. 74 corridor just saw a big-ticket real estate flip. Union Town Center, the Food Lion-anchored shopping center on the highway, has sold again, this time for $21.4 million, in a deal that shows investors are still hungry for grocery-anchored retail.
The buyer, BC Wood Properties, picked up the roughly 102,360-square-foot plaza, which mixes national and local tenants and comes with buildable pads that have yet to be developed. The sale marks a brisk turnaround for a center that last changed owners only a few years ago and is already back under new management.
Sale details
According to the Charlotte Business Journal, BC Wood Properties closed on Union Town Center for $21.4 million in a transaction announced today. The report did not spell out how the purchase was financed, leaving the capital stack behind the deal under wraps for now.
Where it sits and who rents there
The center is located at 5850 W. Highway 74 and spans about 102,360 square feet, per its commercial listing. LoopNet shows the property fronting U.S. 74 at a signalized intersection, a prime spot for daily traffic.
Property materials list a tenant roster that includes Food Lion, Dollar Tree, Workout Anytime, Scooter’s Coffee and a Red Cross office. Both PropertyShark and marketing flyers indicate the center was fully leased at the time it was brought to market, which likely helped push pricing.
Outparcels and recent history
Marketing documents highlight two outparcel development sites that remain on the table, measuring roughly 0.475 acres and 0.75 acres. Those pads are effectively the “bonus round” for the new owner.
Legacy Realty notes that Union Town Center last traded in 2023 for about $16.2 million. That makes the latest $21.4 million price tag a notable step up in value in just a few years.
Why investors are paying up
Grocery-anchored shopping centers remain a favorite with investors who want dependable foot traffic and steady rent checks, according to industry analyses. Research from CoStar points to rising transaction volumes for these types of centers, with strong competition pushing pricing higher.
Local demographics are not hurting the case either. Indian Trail’s population climbed from about 40,000 in 2020 to roughly 43,867 by mid-2024, according to U.S. Census QuickFacts, adding fuel to neighborhood retail demand along U.S. 74.
What’s next for the site
With the main center fully leased, BC Wood Properties is expected to concentrate on activating those remaining pads and keeping in-line rents on track. In practical terms, that means more site plans, more broker calls and, if things go as marketed, future announcements about new tenants filling out the outparcel spaces in the increasingly busy southeast Charlotte suburbs.
