Bernie Kenny of Hockessin, Del., president of FSSC, LLC, has purchased First State Plaza in Stanton, Del. from an entity controlled by Regency Shopping Centers of Jacksonville, Fla. Stanton is west of Wilmington.
Kenny is the Chairman and founder of Delaware Supermarkets, Inc. DSI, a Delaware company which operates five ShopRite supermarkets in Delaware. The Kenny family Shoprite is the anchor tenant in the center.
The Kenny family built Shoprite into a strong competitor in the northern Delaware grocery market starting with the store in First State Plaza. The company went on to acquire other sites in Wilmington, the Newark area, Bear and north Wilmington.
First State Plaza has 164,779-square-foot and also includes Cinemark a 10-screen movie theater, Dollar Tree, and a U.S. Post Office.
Kenny said: “We know First State Plaza having operated the supermarket in the shopping center for the last 25 years. We now look forward to updating the shopping center look and its tenant mix and making First State Plaza an even more important community hub.”
The new owners plan to expedite the installation of a bus shelter to facilitate DART buses and construct another exit to ease traffic flow.
“First State Plaza is an important part of the greater Stanton community – we are excited about FSSCs improvements to the center and look forward to working with the existing tenants while we welcome new ones,” said Chris Kenny, CEO of Delaware Supermarkets.
Leasing Agent Jim O’Hara of the real estate firm of Emory Hill, said, “Given the strategic location of this center and the strong customer counts generated by the high-volume ShopRite, we are excited about the opportunity to bring in new tenants to the shopping center.”
