Kimco Realty, which specializes in grocery-anchored shopping centers and is growing its portfolio of mixed-use assets, said Monday it plans to acquire fellow grocery-anchored retail specialist RPT Realty for about $2B.

The acquisition, which is expected to close by the beginning of next year, will add 56 open-air shopping centers to Kimco's existing portfolio of 528 properties. Kimco will also acquire RPT’s 6% stake in a 49-property net lease joint venture.

“Approximately 70% of RPT’s portfolio aligns with our key strategic markets,” Kimco CEO Conor Flynn said in a statement.

Long Island-based Kimco has properties nationwide, with heavy concentrations on the East and West coasts, as well as Texas.

New York City-based RPT has a concentration of 17 properties in Florida and holdings of five or more properties each in Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio, with a scattering in other states.

Under the terms of the all-stock deal, RPT shareholders will receive roughly 0.61 newly issued Kimco shares for each RPT share they own, representing a total consideration of about $11.34 per RPT share. This represents a 19% premium to RPT’s closing share price on Friday.

Space is tight at grocery-anchored shopping centers, so much so that retail closures represent opportunity for the sector.

During the second quarter, Kimco said it was able to sign new tenants at four former Bed Bath & Beyond locations at more than 30% higher rents, and the company has already agreed to leases at seven of the 19 locations it will get back in Q3 with average rent increases of 20%, Flynn said on the company's most recent earnings call.

Kimco reported funds from operations of $243.9M, or 39 cents per share, for the second quarter. That figure was $246.4M, or 40 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2022. The company also reported portfolio occupancy of 95.8% at the end of Q2, which was flat compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 70 basis points year-over-year

Kimco shares gained about 1.6% on Monday morning. Compared with a year ago, its shares are down nearly 11%.