DLC Acquires Grocery-Anchored NH Center in Off-Market JV Deal

DLC Management Corp. has acquired West Street Shopping Center, a 206,319-square-foot grocery-anchored property in Keene, New Hampshire, through an off-market transaction structured as a joint venture with Cohen & Steers. The deal expands DLC's Keene footprint to more than 500,000 square feet under management in that single market.

The Asset

West Street's anchor lineup centers on a Hannaford supermarket that has operated at the property since 1984 and ranks as the No. 2-performing Hannaford in the country—a traffic driver that gives food and beverage tenants in the center a built-in consumer base. Hobby Lobby co-anchors the property, with national in-line tenants including Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Maurices, UPS, and AAA rounding out the mix. Current occupancy sits at 80 percent, leaving roughly 40,000 square feet of second-generation retail space immediately available for lease.

For foodservice and beverage industry operators evaluating suburban and college-town locations, that vacancy represents a concrete near-term opportunity. DLC's leasing strategy—focused on strategic tenant placement and active asset management—signals an appetite for experienced food-and-beverage concepts that complement the grocery anchor's daily-needs traffic pattern.

Why Keene Works

DLC has owned and operated shopping centers in Keene for more than 20 years, a tenure the firm says gave it the market intelligence to source this deal before it hit the open market. Keene functions as the primary commercial hub for southwestern New Hampshire, drawing from a tri-state trade area that touches Vermont and Massachusetts. Keene State College, Antioch University, and Cheshire Medical Center sustain consistent consumer demand, and New Hampshire's tax-free retail environment strengthens the region's draw for shoppers crossing state lines.

"Twenty years of successfully operating in Keene gives us a clear understanding of what works in this market," said Chris Ressa, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of DLC Management Corp. "We know the retailers, we know the customers, and we know where the demand is. With a dominant grocery anchor driving traffic and significant leasing upside, we put that knowledge to work and drive NOI growth."

Adam Ifshin, Founder and CEO of DLC, framed the acquisition as a product of the firm's deliberate focus on markets where local expertise creates a sourcing edge. DLC actively targets college towns and regional retail hubs—a strategy that aligns with broader grocery-anchored retail trends showing resilient foot traffic at centers where a high-volume supermarket anchors the tenant mix. The acquisition also builds on DLC's ongoing joint venture with Temerity Strategic Partners. DLC's overall portfolio spans more than $4 billion and 24 million square feet across 90-plus open-air properties.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.