TEMPLE (Austin Business Journal) – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, Canada’s largest REIT, has purchased the Bird Creek Crossing shopping center in Temple for a reported $21.2 million.

The 125,000-sf shopping center at I-35 and HL Dodgen Loop is occupied by retailers such as Home Depot, Target and Best Buy.

RioCan purchased an 80 percent interest in the property, while Inland Western Retail REIT holds the other 20 percent. Inland will manage the property.

The Congress Avenue Bridge is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America.  Nearly 1.5 million Mexican Free-tailed bats reside in vertical crevices beneath the bridge roadway from mid-March to early November.  The crevices provide ideal temperature and humidity conditions for this maternity colony in which mother bats raise their young.  Each mother gives birth to one "pup" in early June; within five weeks the babies are fully weaned and begin foraging on their own.  The bats provide a valuable environmental service to central Texas by consuming 10-15 tons of insects nightly - including mosquitos and many crop pests such as corn-borer moths.  The nightly bat exodus has become one of the most spectacular visitor attractions in Texas.  The most impressive flights can be seen on hot, dry August evenings, often well before sundown, as multiple columns of bats fan out from under the bridge offering unique photo opportunities. Best viewing spots are at the Bat Educational Kiosk on the north bank at the Kiosk/Observation Area, east of the bridge.  For further information contact Bat Conservation International.