San Diego-based Midtown National Group L.P. has acquired an 87,697 SF shopping center in Lakewood from Phillips Edison & Co.

Built in 1977, the Safeway-anchored shopping center is on 8.33 acres at 13019 West Alameda Parkway and was 99% occupied at the time of the sale. In addition to the 60K SF Safeway, tenants in the shopping center include The Garlic Knot Restaurant, H&R Block, Perfect Teeth and Play It Again Sports.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed and it had not yet been recorded with the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office at publication time.

The shopping center is on a major east-west thoroughfare that connects Interstate 25 and C-470, which has a traffic count of 27,600 cars per day. Lakewood is the fifth-most-populous city in the state with a population of more than 150,000. There are 197,000 people within a 5-mile radius of the property.

“Denver continues to be a highly sought-after investment market for investors,” said Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors Executive Vice President Kevin Fryman, who, with Executive Vice President Eric Wohl and President Ed Hanley, represented both the buyer and seller.

Denver-area rents are rising at three times the national average — 6.9% for Denver versus 2.3% nationwide, Wohl said.

“With a population of 2.7 million, Denver’s growth rate has consistently outpaced the national growth rate every decade since the 1930s,” he said.