Phoenix-based Vestar Development Co., which opened the massive District at Tustin Legacy shopping center in 2007, has turned its sights to buying local centers.
The developer’s closed on nearly $400 million worth of retail buys in the past month, including a pair of deals in Southern California.
One of those local buys was San Clemente’s Talega Village Center, a 103,000-square-foot shopping center that was built a few years ago by Irvine-based Hopkins Real Estate Group. It’s the second center for Vestar in Orange County after District at Tustin Legacy.
The San Clemente center, near the entrance of the Talega Golf Club in the 3,500-acre Talega housing development, is about 90% full and includes a Ralphs Fresh Fare supermarket.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Hopkins paid about $7 million in 2004 for the 10-acre site where the project was built.
Vestar worked with San Francisco’s Rockwood Capital LLC and Miami’s Equity One Inc. for its recent purchases, which also included the 387,000-square-foot Vernola Marketplace in Mira Loma, as well as a $280 million deal near Phoenix.
Rockwood was an initial investor in the Talega Village Center development. Vestar bought Hopkins’ stake and part of Rockwood’s stake, according to President Rick Kuhle.
“In the long term, we’d like to be building,” he said. “But in the short term, we’re focused on leasing, and waiting for the market to turn.”
The company’s eyeing a couple of other retail centers in OC and is on the lookout for more deals in the area, according to Kuhle.
The company typically goes after centers a little larger than the Talega deal, in the 200,000-square-foot to 500,000-square-foot range, he said.
At 1 million square feet, Vestar’s District at Tustin Legacy was the largest shopping center built in the county during the last commercial real estate boom.
The center’s been able to keep its stores largely full in spite of a rough economy, and a lack of additional development at the former Tustin Marine base off Jamboree Road.
The Tustin mall originally was expected to draw a good chunk of its customers from additional development planned at the former base, which has been put on hold during the downturn.
Vestar’s been keeping a close eye on the city’s plans for getting construction started again at the base, Kuhle said.
Plans include an extension of Tustin Ranch Road through the heart of the former base.
The extension could divert some traffic off Jamboree Road and make for an easier time getting in and out of the center.
Construction Deal
Two construction companies with local operations are joining forces.
Boston-based Suffolk Construction Co., one of the country’s largest privately held contracting firms, said earlier this month it’s buying San Diego-based Roel Construction Co. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Roel, a family owned company, does the bulk of its work here and in San Diego.
It was the ninth largest tenant improvement contractor in OC last year and counts about 30 local employees.
Suffolk ranked No. 11 here last year among commercial construction companies, doing about $175 million in business in OC. It counts about 100 local workers.
The plan is to continue operating Roel under its current name, according to Chief Executive Wayne Hickey, who will remain in charge of Roel’s local daily operations and is joining Suffolk’s national executive advisory board.
The deal gives Suffolk a bigger stake on the West Coast, where it’s looking to expand. It gives Roel more prospects in healthcare and military work, according to officials.
There are no plans for changes to existing staff, according to Hickey.
Leasing Change
The Irvine office of Jones Lang LaSalle said it was awarded leasing for an office building that’s part of Anaheim’s 230,000-square-foot Stadium Crossings office and retail complex.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Jay Nugent and Curtis Ellmore are handling leasing at 2125 E. Katella Ave., a 105,940-square-foot office across the street from Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
The building’s owned by Beverly Hills-based Bilak Enterprises, which acquired the four-story office in 2007. The biggest tenant in the building is another brokerage, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., which runs its Anaheim brokerage operations out of the building.
