Orion Real Estate Group has paid $26.1 million for Watauga Village, an 88,800-square-foot, Food Lion-anchored neighborhood shopping center at 276 Watauga Village Drive in Boone, North Carolina. The property is fully leased and sits in the commercial center of Boone, the hub of North Carolina's High Country and home to Appalachian State University, which has approximately 21,800 students.
The center is shadow-anchored by a Walmart Supercenter and sits adjacent to Watauga Medical Center, the region's primary hospital. In addition to Food Lion, tenants include Michaels, Mercy Urgent Care, Spectrum, Tropical Smoothie Café and Wingstop. CBRE National Retail Partners represented the seller, with a team including Adam Russ, Erin Varol and Will Register.
The acquisition marks a shift in Orion's North Carolina footprint. The firm currently owns or manages an additional 23 properties totaling 101,583 square feet throughout the state, all of which are single-tenant, triple-net properties. Watauga Village is therefore Orion's first shopping center acquisition in North Carolina, expanding its exposure from single-tenant assets into a multi-tenant, grocery-anchored retail format in a university-supported market.
What remains unknown from the single source is the seller's identity, the capitalization rate or financing structure behind the $26.1 million price, and the property's historical performance or lease expiration schedule. The report also does not disclose whether the fully leased status reflects long-term leases or near-term rollover risk, leaving the acquisition's forward yield and operational strategy unconfirmed.