Even in an age of experiential retail and round-the-clock online shopping and shipping, grocery-anchored shopping centers remain indispensable retail properties. In Latham, New York, a hamlet in a suburban area north of Albany with few full-service groceries, the sale of Fresh Market Commons is expected to deliver significant benefits to the community by bolstering retail stability and economic growth. That earned the sale a 2026 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
Ranked by customer visits, Latham’s Fresh Market is the top-performing store in its chain across the state of New York. It also holds the No. 17 position out of 162 locations nationwide. The shopping center serves a robust trade area of more than 182,000 residents within five miles and average household incomes above $116,700.
Albany-based Nigro Retail Properties has managed the 104,023-square-foot shopping center since private investors bought it for $26.9 million in January 2025 in an off-market transaction from Florida-based Benderson Development Co. With Fresh Market as the anchor tenant alongside retailers like Petco, 110 Grill and Crumbl Cookies, the center provides essential goods and services while maintaining a strong retail presence. An ice cream shop and a Pilates studio are preparing to open, and Lisa Nigro Ferguson, the management firm's CEO, said negotiations underway with a larger prospective tenant to fill a former Home Goods store could bring the center up to fully leased.
The property's strategic location near major highways and other retail destinations ensures convenience for shoppers, and upgrades and tenant improvements made since the sale and planned should help keep the center modern and appealing, reinforcing its role as a vital community hub.
What the judges said: Shaun McDonnell, managing director, Standard Brokerage Co., described the shopping center as a "prominent location and property known throughout the region.”
John Burke, executive vice president of Commercial Real Estate — Prime Group Holdings, said Fresh Market Commons is in a “key corner location in the capital region's center with a diverse array of commercial multitenant offerings."
They made it happen: James Koury, listing broker, senior managing director, Institutional Property Advisors.