Asana Partners continues its splurge on Orange County retail shopping centers.
Coming off the $51 million acquisition of the Gateway Center in Mission Viejo, the Charlotte-based real estate investment firm—with more than $7 billion in assets under management—added to its growing Orange County portfolio with the purchase of the Seacliff Village shopping center in Huntington Beach for $151 million.
Barings, an institutional investor based in Charlotte, sold the 18-property, 251,300-square-foot shopping center, according to CoStar.
The retail center sold for $600.74 per square foot, slightly above Orange County’s average retail sales price of $551 per square foot.
“As the market dominant asset in a supply-constrained coastal community with clear tenant demand, Seacliff Village was an attractive acquisition,” Bri Baffer, the senior director of Investments at Asana Partners, told the Business Journal. “We plan to thoughtfully reinvest in the property to improve this dynamic retail destination for the surrounding communities.”
JLL represented the seller and procured the buyer.
The commercial real estate brokerage firm also secured $84 million in acquisition financing for Asana, JLL’s Senior Managing Director Gleb Lvovich told the Business Journal.
JLL Capital Markets’ Investment Sales and Advisory team, including Lvovich, Senior Managing Director Geoff Tranchina and Managing Director Daniel Tyner, led the deal.
Senior Managing Director Anthony Fertitta Jr. and Managing Director John Marshall handled the financing arrangements.
“Generational assets such as Seacliff Village rarely come to market and Seacliff Village is no exception, having been owned by the same advisor for over 20 years. The depth of interest at strong pricing demonstrates investors’ continued interest and conviction in the retail space,” Lvovich said in a news release.
Coastal Retail
Seacliff Village, at 7041-7061 Yorktown Ave., is less than 1.5 miles from the beach and next to Huntington Beach High School.
JLL officials said the shopping center serves a strong customer base in an affluent area and is highly visible along Main Street and Goldenwest Street, where over 93,500 vehicles pass each day.
The shopping center features a variety of retail tenants and more than 1,000 parking spaces. Major tenants include Albertsons, Starbucks, LA Fitness, Coldwell Banker, Chase and Chipotle, spread across nearly 27 acres.
The shopping center was built in 1978 and renovated in 2016. It is currently 95% leased, according to JLL.
According to CoStar records, this sale stands out compared to other recent retail acquisitions nearby, like the $18.6 million purchase of the 41,000-square-foot Blue Pavilion Little Saigon Shopping Center in Garden Grove in September and the $10 million sale of the 27,000-square-foot Edwards Center in Westminster in June.
Tyner said Seacliff Village is one of the best-performing grocery-anchored centers in Orange County, thanks in large part to its prime coastal location.
“The demand for coastal grocery-anchored retail remains robust and we look forward to continuing to see Seacliff Village thrive for many years to come,” he said in a news release.
Retail Report
According to Kidder Mathews’ 2026 Market Forecast, the retail sector is experiencing a resurgence and has largely rebounded since COVID.
With little new construction and few available properties, Orange County’s retail market is extremely tight. Retail vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2025 were 3.7%, down 2 basis points from the same period in 2024, according to the report.
The Kidder Mathews report also found that consumer foot traffic hit its highest levels since 2019.
While many major urban centers are still recovering, Orange County’s suburban-focused market has adapted to new shopping habits, keeping vacancies low and rents steady.
“Orange County is one of the strongest retail markets in the country and some think it’s actually undervalued relative to markets such as Los Angeles,” Lvovich told the Business Journal.
Asana Partner’s OC Acquisitions
Asana Partners appears to be focusing on Orange County retail with its recent purchases, which is part of its broader strategy to be “active in growth markets throughout the United States,” according to Asana officials.
In May last year, the company purchased the Westport Plaza and Square retail center in Costa Mesa for $25 million, according to CoStar.
In January, the firm acquired the Gateway Center shopping center in Mission Viejo from DJM for $51 million.
A month later, they completed the purchase of the Seacliff Village shopping center in Huntington Beach.
In under a year, the Charlotte-based real estate investment firm has put more than $225 million into Orange County retail properties.
The company specializes in owning and managing mixed-use commercial properties across the U.S. It now manages more than $7 billion in assets across 24 submarkets, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Austin, Miami and New York.
“Gateway Center and Seacliff Village are well-located, neighborhood retail assets that benefit from strong local engagement and high weekly trip counts,” said Baffer.
Baffer said the company plans to increase the time people spend at these shopping centers by bringing in new retailers and improving the look of the properties’ aesthetics over time.
“Part of Asana Partners’ core strategy is to invest in dynamic neighborhoods with compelling demographics where we can enhance the experience for visitors,” she said.
Lvovich said he could not comment specifically on his client’s recent buying spree in Orange County but noted that “the ability to buy scale in a coastal market was attractive to a wide variety of capital sources.”
Lvovich said other institutional buyers are likely to look at high-end retail opportunities in Orange County.
“There is a gold rush for all retail, it’s just magnified on supply-constrained coastal sub-markets,” he said. “The fundamentals in retail have never been better.”
