Costa Mesa’s Triangle Square mall has seen a change in its ownership.
Richard Kelly, owner of Sutra Restaurant and Nightclub, recently closed escrow on the three-story mall. The news was first reported in the Daily Pilot.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sources said that the sale included the assumption of a loan with the property’s lender, ING Group NV.
Kelly, who heads up Newport Beach-based developer and investor Kelly Holdings LLC, also recently acquired Sutra, which is at the 185,500-square-foot mall.
He has plans in the works to revitalize the property, which sits at the end of the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway.
Redevelopment plans are under way and are set to be complete in the next 12 to 18 months, Kelly told the Daily Pilot. The most immediate change at the mall is the shuttering of Chronic Cantina, a taco bar that closed up shop Tuesday.
Kelly’s other holdings include San Diego’s Ivy Hotel. He’s the latest owner of Triangle Square, which has struggled to lure and keep tenants since it opened in 1992 at a cost of $62 million.
Newport Beach-based real estate investor and developer Greenlaw Partners and Wilton, Conn.-based Commonfund Realty Inc. previously bought the mall in late 2006.
Commonfund deemed the mall not to be a core asset and disposed of the property in the latest transaction, which is said to have closed escrow in December, according to real estate sources.
Greenlaw remains a part-owner of Triangle Square and still manages the property, sources said.
After buying the mall in late 2006, Greenlaw and Commonfund proposed building a 10-story condo building at the site, while removing nearly 40% of the mall’s retail space. That plan was put on hold as the housing market deteriorated.
