Prickett Preserve Sells for $39 Million, a Philly-Area Record per Square Foot
Bucks Co. & Beyond Daily
Bucks Co. & Beyond Daily
by Nick Rau
Most of us know Prickett Preserve as the place we run into for groceries, a burrito or a prescription on the way home, so it's a little surprising to learn that it just made Philadelphia-area real estate history. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, the shopping center at 930 Stony Hill Road in Lower Makefield Township sold for $39 million, or about $693 per square foot, which commercial brokerage JLL says is the highest price per square foot ever paid for a shopping center in the Philadelphia metro area. The buyer is L&B Realty Advisors, a Dallas real estate investment firm that manages about $9.8 billion in assets, according to JLL, and the sellers are the developers who built it, DeLuca Homes and Envision Land Use.
The timing makes sense once you look at how quickly the center filled up. It was completed between 2023 and 2024, and it was 99% leased at the time of the sale, JLL reported. The center went on the market in the spring, when the Philadelphia Business Journal reported that JLL was marketing it, so the developers built it, filled it and sold it, which is how a project like this is supposed to go. The happy twist is the price: a brand-new, nearly full center on a busy corner drew an out-of-state investor willing to pay a record price per square foot for it.
The deal covers 56,252 square feet of shops and restaurants on about 22.6 acres, with tenants that include CVS Pharmacy, Chase Bank, Chipotle, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill and Wonder, according to JLL. What it doesn't include is the Wegmans next door. The 90,427-square-foot grocery store (JLL's figure) and its land stay with DeLuca Homes and Envision Land Use, the Herald reported, and the Philadelphia Business Journal reported that Wegmans has 20 years left on its lease. The 200 apartments built next to the center by Equus Capital Partners weren't part of the sale either, an Equus spokesperson told the Herald.
In the industry, that makes Wegmans a "shadow anchor," which means it pulls the shoppers who then stop at the stores around it, even though the new owner doesn't own it. Anyone who has tried to find a parking spot there on a Saturday morning already understands the business model. The store opened on March 20, 2024, as Wegmans' 111th location and its 19th in Pennsylvania, Patch reported at the time, and store manager Bill Platt told the opening-day crowd, "This site has been in the planning stages for 20 years."
JLL's pitch leaned on the location and the neighbors. The center sits near the Interstate 295 and Route 332 interchange, across from Shady Brook Farm, and JLL counted about 144,900 people living within five miles, with an average household income of about $166,500, BUCKSCO.Today reported. JLL Senior Managing Director Jim Galbally put it plainly in the firm's announcement.
"Prickett Preserve represented a rare opportunity to acquire a newly developed shopping center in one of the Philadelphia region's most established and affluent suburban communities," Galbally said. "Investors were attracted to the property's institutional-quality tenancy, strong daily-needs merchandising and the limited pipeline of comparable opportunities in the market."
That last point, the limited pipeline, is the part I'd underline. JLL's argument is that few comparable centers are coming to market, so when a newly built, fully leased one does, buyers compete for it. JLL notes that its record comparison is based on RCA transaction data for retail center and shop properties in the Philadelphia metro, counting closed, single-property sales over $5 million.
The most direct local payoff is the transfer tax. The sale generated $780,638.75 in taxes and recording fees, including $390,250 to the state, $195,125 to Lower Makefield Township and $195,125 to the Pennsbury School District, a spokesperson for the seller told the Herald. That split is the same one a home sale in the township pays: Bucks County's realty transfer tax is 2%, with 1% to the state and 1% to the municipality and school district, according to the county Recorder of Deeds, and Lower Makefield's tax page lists the local half as 1/2% for the township and 1/2% for Pennsbury.
For homeowners, the bigger takeaway is confidence. A record price per square foot for the shops around the corner is a sign that serious money sees long-term staying power in this part of Bucks County, from the daily traffic at Wegmans to the households nearby. That doesn't move anyone's home value on its own, but it's good news for a neighborhood that has added a grocery store, restaurants and 200 apartments in just a few years.
By the numbers: $39 million sale price · about $693 per square foot · 56,252 square feet · 99% leased · 20 years left on the Wegmans lease · $195,125 each to Lower Makefield and Pennsbury in transfer tax.
Who bought Prickett Preserve in Lower Makefield, PA? L&B Realty Advisors, a Dallas real estate investment firm, bought the Prickett Preserve shopping center for $39 million on Oct. 13, 2026, from DeLuca Homes and Envision Land Use, according to JLL and the Bucks County Herald.
Was the Yardley-area Wegmans at Prickett Preserve sold? No. The Wegmans at Prickett Preserve and its land were not part of the sale and remain owned by DeLuca Homes and Envision Land Use, the Herald reported. The store has 20 years left on its lease, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Why was the Prickett Preserve sale a record? At about $693 per square foot, it was the highest price per square foot ever paid for a shopping center in the Philadelphia metro area, according to JLL, which based the comparison on RCA transaction data.
Prickett Preserve sits in Lower Makefield Township, which my Lower Makefield guide covers. It has a Yardley mailing address but isn't in Yardley Borough, and you can browse the rest of my Bucks County town guides.
A record price says investors see what we already know: people here like to shop close to home, and a busy corner in Lower Makefield is a very good place to be. I'm Nick Rau, President of Sales with the Rarity Real Estate Team, ranked in the Top 1% of agents nationally (RealTrends 2025, individual), with more than 135 Google reviews, and I live right here in Bucks County.
Rarity Real Estate Team, 1100 N Delaware Ave Suite A, Philadelphia, PA 19125 · (215) 593-7498 · [email protected]
Questions about Lower Makefield or Yardley? Call (215) 593-7498 or email [email protected].
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Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, one of the tenants in the Prickett Preserve shopping center. Photo (cropped): Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, via Firebirds.
Sources: JLL, "JLL arranges record-setting sale of Wegmans-shadow-anchored shopping center in Bucks County, Pennsylvania," Oct. 13, 2026 (price-per-square-foot record and RCA basis, buyer's $9.8 billion in assets, 56,252 sq. ft., 22.6 acres, 99% leased, tenants, 90,427 sq. ft. Wegmans, Galbally quote); Bucks County Herald, "Prickett Preserve in Lower Makefield sold in record-setting deal," Oct. 14, 2026 ($39 million on Tuesday, $693 per sq. ft., buyer, transfer tax figures, Wegmans land retained, apartments not included); Philadelphia Business Journal, Oct. 13, 2026 (record deal; Wegmans lease term as cited by the Herald); BUCKSCO.Today, Oct. 17, 2026 (Shady Brook Farm, five-mile population and income figures from JLL); DELCO.Today, Apr. 16, 2026 (center listed for sale); Shopping Center Business, Oct. 16, 2026; Patch, "2nd Wegmans Supermarket Opens In Bucks County," Mar. 20, 2024 (opening date, 111th store, 19th in Pennsylvania, Platt quote); Bucks County, Transfer Tax (2% rate and split); Lower Makefield Township, Tax Information (1/2% township, 1/2% school district).
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