Ron Dickerman always figured he would return to Massachusetts after leaving the state where he grew up for business school at Columbia University in the 1980s. Instead, he stayed in New York, first working in investment banking, and then in private equity.
But the Lexington native does return for one important reason: to shop for real estate investment opportunities.
Dickerman just inked a deal for his private equity firm, Madison International Realty, to buy a 50 percent stake in Legacy Place, the nearly 500,000-square-foot open-air shopping center in Dedham. Dickerman’s firm acquired the stake held by Nuveen, a subsidiary of TIAA, in the partnership that owns Legacy Place, for an undisclosed amount. The other partners are WS Development and the Redstone family’s National Amusements Inc., which jointly developed the project more than 15 years ago on the 37-acre site of a former Showcase Cinemas complex. (Madison and WS are also partners in the MarketStreet Lynnfield shopping center north of Boston, and Madison also is investing in lab developer IQHQ’s Fenway Center project.)
Despite the rise of Amazon and other online shopping sites, Dickerman is still a big believer in bricks-and-mortar. He notes that Legacy draws regular customers from as far away as 30 miles, because of the tenant mix — it’s essentially full — and the experience.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the office and retail real estate markets, but the retail sector appears to be stabilizing now, particularly because so few new shopping centers were built across the country in recent years.
“There’s been so much dislocation with Amazon and home delivery,” Dickerman said. “In our view, retail is finally starting to catch an equilibrium.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.