Sydney-based Westfield Corp. is expected to sell a majority stake in Westfield MainPlace in Santa Ana to a partnership headed by USAA Real Estate Co. in San Antonio, Texas.
USAA will own 79% of the shopping center, which is part of a deal estimated at $1.1 billion, according to Harrison Scott Publications’ Real Estate Alert.
The deal calls for the Texas investor to also take a 79% interest in three other malls—Westfield Connecticut Post in Milford, Conn.; Westfield Hawthorn in Vernon Hills, Ill.; and Westfield Vancouver in Vancouver, Wash. USAA will also get a 49% share of Westfield Fox Valley in Aurora, Ill.
Westfield MainPlace has J.C. Penney, 24 Hour Fitness, Macy’s and Nordstrom as anchors. Macy’s and Nordstrom own their respective spaces at the mall, with ground leases on each of the stores combining for 216,000 square feet. The recent report estimated a value of $353.9 million for the remaining 884,000 square feet at the center, which would put USAA’s share at about $280 million.
The shopping center has an occupancy rate of about 91% and gets an estimated $383 in sales per square foot of leasable space, according to Newport Beach-based Green Street Advisors LLC.
Shops at Mission Viejo—which is about the same size, has similar anchors, an occupancy rate of about 98% and an estimated $715 in sales per square foot—has recently been valued at more than $500 million.
San Francisco-based Montgomery Street Partners LLC and Centennial Real Estate Co. in Dallas partnered with USAA Real Estate on the purchase involving Westfield MainPlace.
The group will create a joint venture with Westfield that will co-own the properties.
The deal is the latest of several large sales that Westfield has completed in the past couple of years, according to Green Street. The change of ownership for the Santa Ana mall could be one of the largest retail center sales in Orange County this year. Other notable deals this year include Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Real Estate Investors’ purchase of a 75% stake in the 840,000-square-foot Bella Terra shopping center in Huntington Beach for an estimated $300 million.
San Jose-based DJM Capital Partners Inc., which has owned and operated the shopping center since 2005, retained a 25% stake in Bella Terra and will continue to manage the property.
Coventry Real Estate Advisors in New York put Buena Park Downtown on the market in May, seeking a deal that industry watchers estimate could reach $100 million.
Renovation
MainPlace opened in 1987 at the former site of the Santa Ana Fashion Square. It recently underwent a $50 million renovation, which included the addition of various entertainment centers and restaurants—Round 1 Entertainment, Blaze Pizza, Panini Café, Starbucks and Dog Haus, among others. The makeover also added a 24-Hour Fitness and an Ashley Furniture location to the mall’s roster of some 200 stores.
Westfield acquired MainPlace in 2002 from Netherlands-based Rodamco NV and changed its name from Main Place/Santa Ana to its current moniker. The buy was part of a $5.3 billion, 35-shopping-malls deal in which Westfield took on 14 centers, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. acquired 13 malls, and Columbia, Md.-based Rouse Co. assumed eight.Â
