LOS ANGELES — Decron Properties Corp., a private, family-owned and operated real estate company based in Los Angeles, has sold a three-property portfolio comprised of neighborhood shopping centers located in Southern California markets. The gross sales price was $108.5 million.
The portfolio consisted of grocery- and drugstore-anchored assets totaling 370,453 square feet. Properties included Mission Foothill Plaza located at 28721-28841 Los Alisos Blvd. in Mission Viejo; Park Oaks, located at 1640-1970 N. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks; and Ontario Plaza, located at 920-1070 N. Mountain Ave. in Ontario.
Bill Bauman, executive vice president, and Kyle Miller, corporate managing director, of Savills Studley represented the seller in the transaction. Retail Opportunity Investment Corp. (Nasdaq: ROIC), a shopping center REIT, was the buyer.
Initially, Mission Foothill Plaza was the only asset being marketed by the Studley Savills team. After the property was awarded to ROIC in a competitive bidding process, the buyer put in an offer on the additional two properties.
“The terms were very compelling, with short due-diligence timeframes and significant non-refundable deposits,” says Miller. “Ultimately the seller was able to leverage market dynamics and a shortage of quality product to realize an excellent return on investment and achieve a strategic corporate goal of shifting capital into premier multifamily assets.”
Bauman adds that choosing where to invest capital can be difficult.
“Right now investors are sitting idle with a lot of capital as finding the right product is challenging in today’s market. This buyer was creative and proactive, acting quickly and diligently to seize control of a valuable portfolio,” says Bauman.
Decron is a real estate company specializing in the acquisition, development and management of multifamily apartment buildings, commercial shopping centers, office buildings and marinas. The company manages more than 4,800 apartment units, with another 460 under development, and more than 3 million square feet of office and retail space across California and Nevada.
ROIC is focused on acquiring, owning, leasing, repositioning and managing necessity-based retail properties, including community and neighborhood shopping centers, anchored by national or regional supermarkets and drugstores. The company targets properties situated in densely populated, middle- and upper-income markets in western regions of the United States. ROIC presently owns and operates 59 shopping centers encompassing 6.9 million square feet.
ROIC’s stock price closed at $17.95 per share on Wednesday, Jan. 28, up from $14.19 per share a year ago.
— Haisten Willis