Retail real estate investment firm DJM has sold the Gateway Center, a neighborhood retail property in Mission Viejo, for $51 million in an all-cash transaction, capitalizing on Orange County’s retail market marked by low vacancy rates and fewer construction deliveries.
DJM officials said the seven-property portfolio sits on a 7.35-acre center at 24000 Alicia Parkway and was 97% leased at the time of sale, with anchors Gelson’s, Starbucks, Baja Fresh, Saddleback Family & Urgent Care, and Chase.
San Jose-based DJM, which exited its 20-year-stake in Bella Terra in Huntington Beach last year, sold Gateway Center for $645.56 per square foot, according to CoStar records.
DJM officials told the Business Journal that Charlotte-based Asana Partners purchased the shopping center.
JLL’s Gleb Lvovich, Daniel Tyner, Geoff Tranchina and Tess Berghoff were the listing brokers in the deal, according to CoStar.
The property traded at a 6% cap rate, DJM officials said.
DJM acquired the retail center in December 2021 for $39.5 million from Gerrity Group.
Orange County’s Tight Retail Market
The sale aligns with broader retail trends in Orange County, showing continued investor interest in well-leased suburban centers.
Kidder Mathews’ most recent retail market report found that retail vacancies across Orange County stood at 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2025, unchanged from the prior quarter and only slightly higher year over year.
Average asking rents remained flat at $2.64 per square foot, per month, compared to the previous year.
The report found that investment pricing metrics continued to strengthen.
The average retail sale prices in Orange County reached $551 per square foot in the fourth quarter, about 5% higher—$524— than a year earlier.
Meanwhile, cap rates fell 80 basis points, or 0.8 percentage points, year over year to 5%, the report said.
According to the report, Orange County is experiencing limited new retail supply.
The county saw just over 127,300 square feet of retail construction deliveries in 2025, down more than 46% year over year, while annual net absorption climbed to 312,712 square feet, a 54.8% surge over the previous year.
DJM’s Retail Strategy
DJM Chief Executive Officer Rob Miller said the firm’s investment strategy has focused on “high-quality, densely populated suburban markets.”
The San Jose-based company with an office in Costa Mesa, has a stake in several retail properties across Orange County, including Pacific City in Huntington Beach and a portion of Lido Marina Village in Newport Beach. The company also held a 25% ownership stake in Bella Terra before selling the mixed-use center last year to its majority owner, PGIM, for an undisclosed amount, according to CoStar records.
The 1979-built retail center sits along highly trafficked Alicia Parkway, where more than 78,000 vehicles pass each day, offering visibility and accessibility, officials said.
When DJM acquired the property in 2021, the retail center was 83% occupied.
DJM officials said they implemented a repositioning strategy that included new leases and property improvements such as enhanced landscaping, refreshed paint and the introduction of a weekly community farmers market.
These initiatives increased occupancy from 83% at acquisition to 97% at sale while strengthening the center’s merchandising and community presence, officials said.
“Gateway Center is a great example of how disciplined capital deployment, thoughtful leasing, and strategic asset management can meaningfully enhance long-term value,” Miller said.
The Gateway Center disposition follows another major DJM retail sale in the Los Angeles area.
Over the past month, DJM sold the 112,000-square-foot Village Del Amo shopping center in Torrance to Wilson Investments for $108 million, a transaction that ranked among the largest retail sales in the South Bay last year, according to CoStar. The 12-property portfolio, which was 92% leased at the time of the sale, sold for $650 per square feet and a cap rate of 6%, CoStar records show.
