Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT, Inc. Acquires ALDI-Anchored Shopping Center in Bonita Springs, Florida

Rhea-AI Summary

Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT (CNSREIT) completed the acquisition of Springs Plaza, a 195,000-square-foot ALDI-anchored open-air shopping center in Bonita Springs, Florida, on Dec. 8, 2025.

The acquisition was executed via a programmatic joint venture with Phillips Edison (NASDAQ: PECO); it marks CNSREIT's fourth deal with PECO and the REIT's eighth open-air center. Springs Plaza is 99% occupied and includes anchors ALDI, Ross, Ollie's, and Athletica Health & Fitness.

Local demand indicators cited include >1,100 housing units under construction within five miles and a projected 3.8% population growth within three miles over five years. The announcement references an open-air sector occupancy rate of 95.7% per CoStar.

Positive

• 195,000 sq ft grocery-anchored asset acquired
• 99% occupancy at Springs Plaza
• Anchors include ALDI, Ross, Ollie's, and Athletica
• Located near >1,100 housing units under construction within five miles
• Projected 3.8% population growth within three miles over five years
• This is CNSREIT's 4th acquisition with PECO and 8th open-air center

Negative

• None.

Key Figures

Share price $34.88 Pre-news price for PECO

52-week range $32.40–$39.70 52-week low and high for PECO

Center size 195,000 square feet Springs Plaza gross leasable area

Occupancy 99% Current occupancy at Springs Plaza

Nearby housing units Over 1,100 units Under construction within five-mile radius

Population growth 3.8% Projected 3-mile cumulative population growth over five years

Open-air occupancy 95.7% Industry-wide open-air shopping center occupancy per CoStar

Market cap $4,382,872,000 PECO market capitalization before this news

Market Reality Check

$34.88 Last Close

Volume Volume 644,499 is slightly below the 20-day average of 721,223 (relative volume 0.89). normal

Technical Price at 34.88 is slightly below the 200-day MA of 34.97 and about 12.14% below the 52-week high.

Peers on Argus

PECO is modestly higher (+0.17%) while peers are mixed: MAC +2.6%, KRG +0.62%, EPRT -0.94%, SKT -0.31%, BRX flat. The move appears stock-specific rather than a broad REIT-retail swing.

Historical Context

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Nov 05	Dividend declaration	Positive	+1.1%	Announced monthly common stock dividends of $0.1083 per share through Mar 2026.
Nov 04	JV acquisition	Positive	+0.5%	CNSREIT and PECO acquired a Kroger-anchored open-air center via joint venture.
Oct 23	Business update	Neutral	+0.7%	Scheduled virtual Business Update webcast to discuss strategy and growth outlook.
Oct 23	Earnings & guidance	Positive	+0.7%	Reported Q3 2025 FFO growth, raised 2025 guidance, and highlighted strong occupancy.
Sep 29	Earnings call invite	Neutral	-0.8%	Announced timing and access details for the Q3 2025 earnings conference call.

Pattern Detected

Recent PECO news, including prior CNSREIT joint-venture acquisitions and earnings, has usually seen modestly positive next-day price reactions.

Recent Company History

Over the past few months, PECO has reported stronger Q3 2025 results with raised earnings guidance and high leased occupancy, maintained a consistent monthly dividend of $0.1083 per share, and continued portfolio expansion through acquisitions, including prior grocery-anchored centers with CNSREIT. Business updates and conference communications also featured, generally producing small positive price moves. Today’s acquisition-related joint-venture news fits this pattern of reinforcing PECO’s grocery-anchored strategy and portfolio growth alongside strong operating metrics.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement adds another high-occupancy, grocery-anchored center—195,000 square feet and 99% leased—to the CNSREIT–PECO joint-venture pipeline. It sits in a growing submarket with projected 3.8% five-year population growth and over 1,100 nearby housing units under construction. In context of PECO’s prior JV acquisitions and strong reported occupancy, investors may watch how this asset contributes to future FFO trends, rent spreads, and same-center NOI metrics.

Key Terms

reit financial

"Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT, Inc. ("CNSREIT") announced today"

A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, operates, or finances income-producing real estate, like shopping centers, apartments, or office buildings. For investors, REITs offer a way to invest in real estate without having to buy property directly, often providing regular income through dividends. They function like a mutual fund for real estate, making it easier for people to add property investments to their portfolio.

joint venture financial

"The acquisition was made through a programmatic joint venture with Phillips Edison"

A joint venture is when two or more companies team up to work on a specific project or business idea, sharing both the risks and the rewards. It’s like friends starting a lemonade stand together—each contributes resources and they split the profits, making it easier to succeed than going alone.

open-air shopping center technical

"its acquisition of Springs Plaza, a grocery-anchored open-air shopping center"

An open-air shopping center is a cluster of retail stores, restaurants and service businesses arranged along outdoor walkways and shared parking, like a village main street rather than an enclosed mall. Investors care because its value depends on foot traffic, lease rates, tenant mix and weather exposure—factors that drive rental income and property costs—so changes in consumer habits, seasons or local development directly affect revenue and occupancy risk.

occupancy technical

"Open-air shopping centers are at their highest occupancy level of the past 16 years"

Occupancy is the share of available space, rooms, units, or beds actually in use at a property or facility, usually expressed as a percentage. For investors it signals demand and how efficiently an asset is generating revenue—like seeing how many seats in a theater are filled tells you how well a show is selling—so higher occupancy generally means steadier cash flow and stronger asset value, while lower occupancy can point to revenue risk.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT, Inc. ("CNSREIT") announced today its acquisition of Springs Plaza, a grocery-anchored open-air shopping center in Bonita Springs, Fla. The acquisition was made through a programmatic joint venture with Phillips Edison & Company (NASDAQ: PECO – "PECO"), a publicly-traded owner and operator of grocery-anchored U.S. neighborhood shopping centers. This is CNSREIT's fourth acquisition with PECO and eighth open-air shopping center in the portfolio.

Springs Plaza is a 195,000 square foot grocery center located on the coast of Southwest Florida. It is 99% occupied and includes major tenants such as ALDI, Ross, Ollie's, and Athletica Health & Fitness. The property is located in Bonita Springs, a fast-growing community located between Naples and Fort Meyers with over 1,100 housing units under construction within a five-mile radius of the property. The property has a 3-mile cumulative population growth of 3.8% projected over the next five years. ¹

James S. Corl, Chief Executive Officer of CNSREIT and Head of the Private Real Estate Group at Cohen & Steers, said: 
"Springs Plaza is positioned at the busiest intersection in Bonita Springs—at the northern gateway to the Naples area, the destination with the highest median wealth and income in West Florida². The surrounding retail is almost completely full and there is no new construction underway. This is a great backdrop for growing the cash flow from already high levels and upgrading the tenancy longer term."

CNSREIT is acquiring high-quality properties that seek to generate attractive income potential alongside best-in-class operators and has an initial focus on well-anchored, necessity-driven shopping centers. Open-air shopping centers are at their highest occupancy level of the past 16 years at 95.7%³, according to real estate analytics provider CoStar Group.

About CNSREIT. Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT, Inc. is a perpetual-life, non-listed REIT formed to invest primarily in high quality, income-focused, stabilized properties within the United States. CNSREIT is externally managed by Cohen & Steers Capital Management, Inc., a subsidiary of Cohen & Steers, Inc. Further information can be found at www.cnsreit.com.

About Cohen & Steers. Cohen & Steers is a leading global investment manager specializing in real assets and alternative income, including listed and private real estate, preferred securities, infrastructure, resource equities, commodities, as well as multi-strategy solutions. Founded in 1986, the firm is headquartered in New York City, with offices in London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore.

About Phillips Edison & Company. 
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. ("PECO") is one of the nation's largest owners and operators of high-quality, grocery-anchored neighborhood shopping centers. Founded in 1991, PECO has generated strong results through its vertically-integrated operating platform and national footprint of well-occupied shopping centers. PECO's centers feature a mix of national and regional retailers providing necessity-based goods and services in fundamentally strong markets throughout the United States. PECO's top grocery anchors include Kroger, Publix, Albertsons and Ahold Delhaize. As of September 30, 2025, PECO managed 328 shopping centers, including 303 wholly-owned centers comprising 34.0 million square feet across 31 states and 25 shopping centers owned in three institutional joint ventures. PECO is focused on creating great omni-channel, grocery-anchored shopping experiences and improving communities, one neighborhood shopping center at a time. Learn more at www.phillipsedison.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," "identified" or other similar words or the negatives thereof. These may include CNSREIT's financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements about plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, statements with respect to acquisitions, statements regarding future performance and statements regarding identified but not yet closed acquisitions. Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and there are or may be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements. CNSREIT believes these factors also include but are not limited to those described under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the prospectus, as amended and supplemented from time to time, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which is accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this document. Except as otherwise required by federal securities laws, CNSREIT undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities.

Website: https://www.cnsreit.com/ 

¹ Source: American Community Survey 2024 data
² Source: American Community Survey 2024 data
³ Source: CoStar, as of July 2024

 

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SOURCE Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT, Inc.

FAQ

What did Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT announce on Dec. 8, 2025 regarding Springs Plaza (PECO)?

Cohen & Steers announced the acquisition of Springs Plaza, a 195,000-square-foot ALDI-anchored shopping center in Bonita Springs, via a programmatic JV with Phillips Edison (PECO).

How occupied is Springs Plaza and who are the major tenants in the PECO-linked acquisition?

Springs Plaza is reported as 99% occupied with major tenants ALDI, Ross, Ollie's, and Athletica Health & Fitness.

What local growth metrics did the Dec. 8, 2025 announcement cite for the Bonita Springs property (PECO)?

The announcement cites >1,100 housing units under construction within five miles and a projected 3.8% population growth within three miles over five years.

What strategic significance did the REIT highlight for the Springs Plaza acquisition with PECO (PECO)?

The company said the center sits at a busy gateway to Naples with limited nearby new construction, supporting potential cash-flow growth from high current occupancy.

How does the announcement position open-air shopping centers sector-wide (Dec. 8, 2025)?

The release referenced CoStar data showing open-air shopping center occupancy at 95.7%, the highest in 16 years.