Orion Real Estate Group has acquired Watauga Village, a fully leased neighborhood shopping center in Boone, North Carolina, for $26.1 million. The property totals 88,800 square feet and is anchored by a Food Lion grocery store. Located at 276 Watauga Village Drive, the center sits within the commercial core of Boone, a community described as the hub of North Carolina’s High Country and home to Appalachian State University, which has approximately 21,800 students.
The shopping center benefits from its proximity to several significant demand drivers in the local market. Watauga Village is shadow-anchored by a Walmart Supercenter, positioning it within a larger retail node that draws regional traffic. The property also sits adjacent to Watauga Medical Center, which is identified as the primary hospital for the surrounding region, adding a steady source of daily visits to the immediate area.
In addition to Food Lion, the tenant roster at Watauga Village includes Michaels, Mercy Urgent Care, Spectrum, Tropical Smoothie Café and Wingstop. According to the seller’s representatives, the property is fully leased, underscoring its current income profile and tenant stability. The combination of a grocery anchor, national and regional retailers, healthcare, and restaurant uses situates the center as a multi-tenant retail asset serving both local residents and the broader High Country region.
CBRE National Retail Partners represented the seller in the transaction. The CBRE team on the assignment included Adam Russ, Erin Varol and Will Register. Their role encompassed marketing the center and advising the seller through the sale process of this grocery-anchored retail asset.
For Orion Real Estate Group, the acquisition marks a strategic shift in its North Carolina holdings. The firm currently owns or manages 23 additional properties across the state, totaling 101,583 square feet. All of those assets are described as single-tenant, triple-net properties. By contrast, Watauga Village is a multi-tenant neighborhood shopping center, making it Orion’s first shopping center acquisition in North Carolina. The purchase expands the company’s footprint in the state beyond its existing single-tenant portfolio and adds a fully leased, grocery-anchored property in Boone to its holdings.
The combination of a stabilized rent roll, grocery and shadow-anchored positioning, and adjacency to both a major university and a regional medical center indicates that Watauga Village occupies a central role in Boone’s retail landscape. The transaction underscores ongoing investor interest in grocery-anchored neighborhood centers, particularly those located in established commercial hubs that serve a mix of student, residential and healthcare-driven demand.
