ShopCore Properties, a retail arm of private equity giant Blackstone Group Inc. that owns and operates small and midsized shopping centers, has bought a collection of six retail properties across Orange County, in deals that collectively approach $300 million.
The centers, bought from an affiliate of Merlone Geier Partners of San Diego, mark the first reported investments in OC for ShopCore under its current ownership structure.
The company, which is based in Chicago and has its West Coast offices in San Diego, was previously a real estate investment trust known as Excel Realty, but was taken private in 2016 by Blackstone.
ShopCore Properties reports owning and operating more than 20 million square feet of retail space across the country, with substantial holdings in Florida, New York and Texas, along with California.
The company owns a variety of open-air power community and grocery anchored large-format shopping centers, and looks to buy “in densely populated submarkets,” it says on its website.
The six local shopping centers total nearly 700,000 square feet, according to ShopCore’s marketing materials for the properties.
They sold for nearly $424 per square foot on average, based on available records.
The estimated $290 million paid cumulatively for the six properties—one each in Dana Point, Irvine, Lake Forest, and Mission Viejo, and two in Huntington Beach—mark the largest retail sale in OC in over four years, according to data from real estate market tracker CoStar Group Inc.
Last year’s largest retail deal in OC were a pair of shopping centers along Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach; they were bought by a real estate venture run by Newport Beach-based Mobilitie’s Gary Jabara for a combined $122.6 million, as part of a nearly $150 million push into commercial real estate across multiple markets by the telecom infrastructure exec (see story, page 20).
Irvine Center Tops
Property records and state filings indicate the deals were completed by ShopCore with little fanfare in mid-January; the six properties are now listed on the company’s website under its portfolio.
The properties include:
• Irvine’s Northwood Town Center, a recently renovated center along Irvine Boulevard that runs 188,000 square feet and counts a Zion Market among its larger tenants. It sold for $99.2 million, or nearly $528 per square foot; it was the priciest of the reported sales, both on total price and on a per-square-foot basis. It’s also the most expensive retail sale in Irvine in several years, brokerage data indicates.
• Huntington Beach’s Goldenwest & Warner, a nearly 130,000-square-foot center anchored by a CVS, Ross Dress for Less, and Stater Bros. Markets. It sold for $45.2 million, or about $348 per square foot.
• Also in Surf City, Brookhurst & Adams, a 132,000-square-foot center with tenants including a PetSmart and Stater Bros. Markets. It sold for $50.8 million, or some $385 per square foot.
• Dana Point’s Stonehill & Del Obispo center, which runs some 53,000 square feet and is anchored by an Albertsons. It sold for $23 million, or about $434 per square foot.
• Lake Forest’s Heritage Hill, a 124,000-square-foot center anchored by a Ralphs and CVS. It sold for $47.6 million, or $384 per square foot.
• Mission Viejo’s Puerta Real Plaza, a nearly 61,000-square-foot center anchored by Target. Terms of its sale were not immediately disclosed; a deal in the $25 million range looks likely.
Five Lagunas Owner
The seller of the six centers, Merlone Geier, still counts a sizeable retail portfolio in OC; its best-known property is the Five Lagunas center just off the San Diego (5) Freeway in Laguna Hills.
A redevelopment plan for that center, several years in the making, has yet to be finalized.
