Irvine Co. has shaken up the executive team of its retail properties division, which operates the largest collection of shopping centers and neighborhood centers in Orange County.
The Newport Beach-based company said this month that it had hired Butch Knerr as president of its 43-propety retail division, an operating group that oversees nearly 10 million square feet, the bulk of which is based in OC.
Knerr replaces Dave Moore at the top spot for the division. Moore left the company in recent weeks; a reason for his departure wasn’t disclosed. He had been with the company for about three years.
Also out at Irvine Co. around the same time as Moore’s departure: Easther Liu, the company’s chief marketing officer. A replacement for Liu has not yet been announced, and a reason for her leaving wasn’t disclosed by the privately held company.
Knerr comes to Irvine Co. from Washington Prime Group, a Columbus, Ohio-based real estate investment trust that owned 114 shopping centers across the county as of this year, totaling 63 million square feet. He was executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Washington Prime’s sole local property is the 1-million-square-foot Westminster Mall, OC’s 10th-largest shopping center by taxable sales.
The REIT, which has a market value of about $1.3 billion, was spun out from Simon Property Group in 2014; the following year it acquired another shopping center-focused company, Glimcher Realty Trust.
Knerr previously served as the executive vice president of leasing for Simon Property Group, an Indianapolis-based mall owner that runs a number of OC-based malls, including the Shops at Mission Viejo and the Outlets at Orange.
Washington Prime announced that Knerr had resigned in early October. He earned about $1.8 million in salary and other compensation there last year, according to regulatory filings.
Growth, Reinvestment
The changes for the top two spots at Irvine Co.’s retail division comes amid a busy period for the operating division of OC’s dominant landlord, which runs nine of the 35-largest shopping centers in the area by taxable sales.
Those nine properties brought in nearly $2.1 billion in taxable sales, according to this week’s Business Journal list (see page 15).
For its three largest retail properties, Fashion Island, Irvine Spectrum Center and The Market Place, sales are up about 7.4% from five years ago, according to Business Journal records.
Despite the reported growth, Irvine Co.’s retail division—like just about every retail property owner in the county—faces its challenges due to struggling department stores that have anchored many of its centers, and an overall switch in strategy to cope with competition from online retailers.
For Irvine Co., the biggest example of that change is taking place at its Irvine Spectrum Center, which is getting an estimated $150 million overhaul, much of that going to replace a shuttered Macy’s store.
The Spectrum’s sales were up about 4.3% year-over-year, thanks in large part to an influx of new restaurants and entertainment options, totaling nearly 60,000 square feet, since 2014.
Irvine Spectrum Center ranked No. 5 on this week’s shopping center list, with $455 million in reported taxable sales.
Fashion Island, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer, is Irvine Co.’s largest center by sales, with an estimated $633.4 million for the 12 months ended June 30.
