The Triangle, the once-troubled Costa Mesa mall that’s been converted into a thriving entertainment and restaurant center over the past few years, is for sale.
The 204,523-square-foot property at the end of the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway was listed last week by the national retail investment group of brokerage CBRE Group Inc.
The nearly full property is going to market unpriced. Real estate sources familiar with it estimate a deal would run close to $100 million, or nearly $490 per square foot.
CBRE’s marketing materials for the property put a $600-per-square-foot replacement cost on the center, which equates to a price of about $123 million.
No retail property in Orange County has changed hands for more than $100 million this year, according to property records.
A deal approaching that price wouldn’t have been expected a few years back, when the center—then known as Triangle Square—was plagued by vacancies, bottoming out at an occupancy rate near 25% following the recession.
The property’s current owners, a venture between Irvine-based Greenlaw Partners, New York-based Westbrook Partners and Walton Street in Chicago, put in $26.5 million in 2012 and 2013 to redevelop and rebrand the site, focusing on “point of destination” tenants rather than traditional retailers.
The Triangle now is 94% leased to tenants that include Yard House, Saddle Ranch, Tavern & Bowl, 24 Hour Fitness and the Sutra night club.
Some of its restaurants appear to be among the best-performing ones in the region. Sales at the most popular ones, in addition to Sutra, are in excess of $600 per square foot, according to CBRE’s marketing materials.
Monthly rents for a few of those tenants top $5 per square foot, according to CBRE data.
The center is projected to bring in more than $4 million in rents and other income over the next year, according to the brokerage, whose Phil Voorhees, Kirk Brummer, Jimmy Slusher and Megan Wood have the listing for the property.
Financial projections listed in the marketing materials suggest a deal could be completed by November.
Reinvention
A sale would mark another chapter in the history of the center, which opened in 1992 at a cost of $72 million and has seen its share of tenants, owners, property managers and redevelopment plans come and go over the years.
Notable anchor tenants that left it prior to its 2012 redevelopment include NikeTown, Whole Foods Market, Barnes & Noble and Virgin Megastore.
Greenlaw first affiliated itself with the mall as a manager in 2006 when Wilton, Conn.-based Commonfund Realty Inc. bought the center.
In 2007 the new owners proposed eliminating some retail space to make room for a condominium tower, but the plans were scrapped as the residential market imploded.
Greenlaw brought in Westbrook Partners and Walton Street as new capital partners in late 2010, undertaking the redevelopment of the property and its 1,020-stall parking garage a few years later.
The owners considered converting some of the remaining vacant space at the mall into creatively designed offices, though no deals of that type were completed.
The Triangle is one of several notable local properties owned by Greenlaw and its financial partners that the Business Journal has reported being for sale in recent months.
Others include the 19-story City Plaza office tower in Orange, the 18301 Von Karman Ave. office tower near John Wayne Airport in Irvine, and the industrial Tri-Freeway Business Park in Anaheim.
