As interest rates rose and optimism dipped, Greater L.A.’s commercial real estate market hit slumped in 2022.
But despite the headwinds, it was a banner year for major retail sales as investors looked to capitalize on the post-pandemic economy. The retail sector’s top two deals in 2022 matched or exceeded the biggest purchases from the past several years, even pre-pandemic 2019.
The sector was led, by a longshot, by a major mall deal in Arcadia, but sales in Lynwood and Woodland Hills also notched larger sums than anything in the region last year. And even one non-luxury car dealership made the list. Three of the top deals involved divestitures by French mall developer Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.
Here’s the TRD ranking of last year’s top 10 retail property sales, as measured by price.
1. Westfield Santa Anita | $538 million | JVP Investment
This was the year’s grandaddy retail sale: In August, JVP Investment bought the Westfield Santa Anita, a 1.5-million-square-foot mall in Arcadia, for $538 million — the largest retail deal in the United States over the last four years. The seller was Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), the Paris-based commercial giant, which had previously announced a plan to “radically” reduce its operations in the U.S. The Westfield mall deal came out to $363 per square foot, a price that’s in the range of other recent major mall deals. But most other malls aren’t a million and a half square feet, with over 200 stores. Eastdil Secured represented the seller.
2. The Village | $325 million | The Kroenke Group
In late December, the Kroenke Group, led by Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, bought The Village, a 600,000-square-foot outdoor mall in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley. The seller was URW, and the purchase was part of Kroenke’s broader plan for the area, where he has assembled property to develop a new headquarters and practice facility for the Rams. The Village is a relatively new mall — it opened in 2015, at a cost of $350 million — and features koi ponds, bocce ball courts and around 100 tenants, including an REI, 24 Hour Fitness and Crate & Barrel.
3. Plaza Mexico Portfolio | $165 million | Sterling Organization
In April 2021, the Plaza Mexico, a roughly 400,000-square-foot shopping center in the south L.A. County city Lynwood, filed for bankruptcy. Just over a year later, in July 2022, the Sterling Organization picked it up at auction for $165 million. The West Palm Beach-based investment firm also scored a $106 million loan along with its purchase, and announced plans to renovate the 20-year-old complex. The shopping center was previously owned by an entity linked to M+D Properties, and has recently hosted tenants that include Planet Fitness, Skechers and Taco Bell.
4. Westfield Promenade | $150 million | The Kroenke Group
The year’s fourth largest retail deal was part of Kroenke’s Woodland Hills assemblage. Back in March, his development company snapped up the 34-acre site of the shuttered Promenade Mall — adjacent to The Village — for $150 million. The seller was also UBR, and the price came out to $221 per square foot. The 677,000-square-foot indoor mall first opened in 1973 but had been mostly dead for the better part of a decade, in part because the mall was overshadowed by a more recent redevelopment the nearby Westfield Topanga. Macy’s picked up and left in 2015. CBRE represented the Kroenke Group in the deal, and Eastdil Secured represented UBR.
5. Three Shopping Center Portfolio | $136 million | Edens
In December, the commercial firm Edens picked up three retail centers that total about 400,000 square feet: The Commons at La Verne, Foothill Plaza and Montebello Mix. The properties are all anchored by grocery stores. The Commons at La Verne and Foothill Plaza are both located in the city of La Verne, in eastern L.A. County, and Montebello Mix is located in Montebello, east of Downtown L.A. The seller was an entity called Combined Properties. Newmark brokered both sides of the deal.
6. Paseo Colorado | $103 million | Onni Group
The year’s fifth biggest sale was also a big bargain: In October, Vancouver-based Onni Group bought the 457,000-square-foot Paseo complex for $103 million through a foreclosure. The property had previously been owned by an LLC called CAPREF, an entity that’s linked to the Dallas-based firm EB Arrow and had defaulted on a loan earlier in the year. Onni’s pickup price was more than $30 million less than the mall’s previous sale price. In 2016, CAPREF paid $135 million for the outdoor mall, where tenants include Equinox, H&M and Designer Shoe Warehouse. A Newmark team brokered Onni’s purchase.
7. Koreatown Plaza | $91 million | INI Investment
For years Koreatown has ranked among L.A.’s hottest real estate neighborhoods, flush with both residential and commercial development. So it wasn’t a huge surprise that a Ktown retail center deal made last year’s list. In September, INI Investment bought the Koreatown Plaza, a decades-old retail center on Western Avenue near the neighborhood’s western edge, from an entity called Korean Shopping Center. More than two years earlier, when longtime owner Joong Nam Yang put the plaza up for sale, one CBRE agent said the brokerage firm, which was representing the seller, expected it would “trade for north of $90 million.” It sold for $91 million.
8. The Shops at Montebello | $87 million | Steerpoint Capital and Bridge Group Investments
The Shops at Montebello, a large mall off Highway 60 east of L.A. formerly known as Montebello Town Center, boasts a roster of more than 100 tenants, including apparel brands such as H&M, Fashion Nova and Forever 21. In July, it was bought by an investment group that included another fashion player, George Mersho, who founded the NorCal-based chain Shoe Palace. The Mersho family firm Bridge Group Investments and its partner Steerpoint Capital purchased the 735,000-square-foot indoor complex for about $118 per square foot. The seller was UBS Realty Investors, an entity of the Swiss-based multinational, which had held the property for a decade and run into pandemic-related rent collection problems.
9. Kia of Carson | $69 million | Modiv
SoCal’s biggest car dealership deal of 2022 went to a Kia dealership in the city of Carson. In January, Modiv, a REIT, bought the 72,000-square-foot facility on Recreation Road in a leaseback deal that came out to $962 per square foot. The seller was TADG Real Estate.
10. Promenade on the Peninsula | $64 million | Richard Hu
In October, investor Richard Hu paid $64 million for Promenade on the Peninsula, an upscale, open-air mall in Rolling Hills Estates, a city on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The seller of the 371,000-square-foot mall was Stoltz Real Estate, which was represented by CBRE.
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