Dallas-based global real estate firm Lincoln Property Co. has made a strategic investment in the operating business of Dallas-based Centennial, a national retail real estate owner and operator.

“We’re excited to partner with Centennial, which has built an incredibly strong track record in large-format retail,” Lincoln Property co-CEO David Binswanger said in a statement. “Our investment in Centennial’s future growth is synergistic with Lincoln’s own growth strategy and creates complementary development opportunities for both firms.”

Centennial founder and CEO Steven Levin noted that the companies are far from strangers.

“Our companies have collaborated on several joint ventures over the last decade, and throughout our engagements, we’ve seen that Lincoln shares our vision for the future of retail real estate,” Levin said in a statement. “By combining Centennial’s retail expertise with Lincoln’s experience in office, multi-family, hotel and other real estate product types, Centennial will be even better positioned to deliver the industry’s best playbook for acquiring, repositioning, and redeveloping thriving retail and mixed-use developments.”

The partnership provides Centennial with the capital and resources to accelerate its national expansion while positioning Lincoln for new mixed-use development opportunities, Lincoln said.

The investment’s amount was not disclosed.

Founded in 1997, Centennial operates more than 23 million square feet of retail and mixed-use properties in premier markets across 18 states. It has roughly 300 employees nationwide, including a team of property-repositioning and redevelopment experts “that creates value for its partners and clients,” the company said.

Aiming to develop ‘community-centric destinations’

Lincoln said the partnership will focus on developing and investing in community-centric destinations that create value.

Together, Lincoln and Centennial plan to evaluate opportunities to acquire, reposition, and redevelop underperforming real estate, leveraging Centennial’s expertise as a mall operator to execute bespoke value-add strategies that attract the right mix of tenants and increase foot traffic.

Lincoln said will lend its development expertise across all asset classes, as well as its localized expertise across the 35 markets where Lincoln operates, to advise on redevelopment and right-sizing opportunities in non-retail and retail-adjacent real estate.

Lincoln said the move underscores its strategic focus on the retail sector, which includes its joint venture with retail investment firm Paragon Commercial Group.

Destinations that go ‘beyond shopping’

“The retail real estate projects succeeding today have adapted to changing consumer behaviors and demand by creating experiential and community-centric destinations that go beyond shopping,” Centennial President Whitney Livingston said. “By repurposing over-built and underperforming space with complementary non-retail uses—such as multifamily, office and hotels combined with restaurants, entertainment, lifestyle services, and fitness, as well as art, music and activated, open spaces—Centennial and Lincoln can deliver the most dynamic, valuable destinations that will withstand time.”

Jim Dillavou, Lincoln’s national head of Retail Real Estate & Retail Capital Markets, will remain focused on Lincoln’s broader retail business, the company said. That includes the necessity-retail space across neighborhood-serving retail, mixed-use campuses, triple-net assets and ground floor amenity retail. Lincoln said its retail team will collaborate with Centennial where accretive, particularly as tenants and capital migrate between the specific product types and strategies.

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