When Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust acquired Preferred Apartment Communities this year, Blackstone got more than 50 shopping centers as part of the deal.
This week, Blackstone retail affiliate ShopCore Properties hired two retail veterans to fill new positions and help lead the integration of those shopping centers into its existing portfolio. ShopCore said it named Lauren Holden as executive vice president and chief operating officer and Jessica Zaski as executive vice president and chief transactions officer.
Holden joined ShopCore from Clarion Partners, where she served as a managing director and head of retail asset management. In her new role as COO, Holden will work to increase the value of ShopCore's properties and oversee leasing, development, construction, asset management and property management. ShopCore said Holden, based at the company's headquarters in Chicago, also would be involved with its sustainability initiatives.
Zaski previously worked at Acadia Realty Trust, where she served as senior vice president and co-head of acquisitions. As ShopCore's chief transactions officer, she will be responsible for the company’s acquisitions and dispositions activity. She is based in New York.
In addition to announcing its new hires, ShopCore said this week it would manage the 52 grocery-anchored shopping centers that Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust picked up when it acquired Preferred Apartment Communities, an Atlanta-based company that owned student housing complexes and retail centers along with a pair of office properties.
BREIT closed on its $5.8 billion all-cash acquisition of PAC in June.
With the addition of the PAC shopping centers concentrated in the Sun Belt, ShopCore’s portfolio increased to 108 properties comprising nearly 20 million square feet of space.
“The integration of this portfolio of 52 grocery-anchored centers marks a significant step" as ShopCore's endeavors to become a major operator of community and grocery-anchored centers across the country, CEO Marc Ricks said in a statement.
When Ricks took over as ShopCore CEO in June, he said a top goal of his was to position ShopCore "to achieve greater growth." This week, he said the addition of Holden and Zaski would help ShopCore support the company's "disciplined growth in key markets."
ShopCore said Holden and Zaski would join another C-level executive, Chief Financial Officer Jim Nakagawa, on its executive leadership team that's responsible for strategic and operational matters.
In a LinkedIn post, Holden said she is excited to join the ShopCore team and help lead the integration of the new market assets immediately.