TOLEDO, OHIO — The Cooper Commercial Investment Group has negotiated the sale of the Jesse James Plaza, a 35,850-square-foot retail center in Toledo, for $2.9 million. Examples of tenants include Safelite Autoglass, Wings & Grill and Reynolds Laundromat. The Kansas-based buyer purchased the property for 96 percent of the list price. Bob Havasi and Dan Cooper of Cooper Commercial represented the seller, a private investment group out of Ohio.
ROCKLIN, CALIF. — Soma Capital Partners, in partnership with Timbercreek Asset Management, has acquired Blue Oaks Marketplace in Rocklin for $19.2 million. The seller was Diamond Creek Properties. At the time of sale, the 100,000-square-foot property was 81 percent leased.
LOS ANGELES — Faris Lee Investments has arranged the sale of a retail strip center located at 3921-3929 W. Olympic Blvd. in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. A private Los Angeles-based investor acquired the property for $2.9 million. Built in 1920, the asset features 13,070 square feet of retail space. Tom Chichester, Joseph Chichester and Matt Brooks of Faris Lee Investments represented the buyer, while Rosano Parters represented the seller, a private Los Angeles-based family, in the deal.
VENTURA, CALIF. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of College Square Strip Center, a retail property located at 134-156 N. Ashwood Ave. in Ventura. An undisclosed buyer acquired the 7,680-square-foot property for $2.3 million. Brandon Michaels of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a limited liability company, in the transaction.
WOODLAND HILLS, CALIF. — NAI Capital has arranged the acquisition of a restaurant property located at 19723 Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills. Canzonet Investments purchased the restaurant property from Green Springs Partners for $1.9 million, or $585 per square foot. Sushi Ichiban Kan leases the 3,567-square-foot property. Matt Ehrlich of NAI Capital represented the buyer in the transaction.
ESCONDIDO, CALIF. — Paragon Commercial Group has closed two long-term leases with HomeGoods and ALDI at Escondido Valley Center at the corner of West Valley and Auto parkways in Escondido. The retailers are backfilling the former Sports Authority space at the 127,436-square-foot shopping center. HomeGoods will occupy 24,261 square feet and ALDI will occupy 21,869 square feet. Bruce Schiff and Phil Lyons of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord in both transactions.
ALISO VIEJO, CALIF. — Chronic Tacos, a California-inspired Mexican grill, plans to open 26 new locations in the United States and Canada by the end of 2017, bringing its total to over 50 locations. 2017 planned openings include: Birmingham, Ala. (2 locations) Waterfront, B.C. Bell Gardens, Calif. Burbank, Calif. Clovis, Calif. Hillcrest (San Diego), Calif. Irvine, Calif. Laguna Beach, Calif. Oceanside, Calif. Pacific Beach, Calif. Paseo, Calif. Redlands, Calif. Sacramento, Calif. Fort Meyers, Fla. Windermere, Fla. Tampa Bay, Fla. Alpharetta, Ga. Atlanta Oahu, Hawaii Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena Raleigh, N.C. Wake Forest, N.C. Nashville, Tenn. Spokane, Wash. Tacoma, Wash. (Lakewood) 2018 planned openings include: Barstow, Calif. Newbury Park, Calif. Alberta, Canada Denver West Midtown, Ga. Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Chronic Tacos is a California-inspired Mexican grill founded in 2002.
DEERFIELD, ILL. — The merger between Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) and Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) has been terminated. Instead, Walgreens will purchase 2,186 stores and three distribution centers from Rite Aid for $5.2 billion. The previous merger agreement was unveiled in October 2015. In December 2016, Fred’s Pharmacy signed an agreement with Walgreens and Rite Aid to purchase 865 stores. Both of these agreements have been terminated, and Walgreens will pay Rite Aid the $325 million termination fee. Deerfield-based Walgreens will begin acquiring stores and related assets on a phased basis over a period of approximately six months, and intends to convert acquired stores to the Walgreens brand over time. Walgreens expects synergies from the new transaction to be in excess of $400 million.
Given his background in business development, Fred Schmidt, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates, is accustomed to analyzing real estate trends over his 36 years in the industry. Schmidt, who joined Madison, N.J.-based Coldwell Banker Commercial in 2003 as vice president of business development, is not nearly as surprised by the spate of retail store closures as some of his colleagues seem to be. REBusinessOnline.com sat down with Schmidt at the International Council of Shopping Center’s RECon event in Las Vegas in late May. In addition to discussing his firm’s push into retail markets in major cities, Schmidt shared his insights on how to repurpose malls. REBusinessOnline.com: Why are we seeing so many store closures and retail bankruptcies at this time? Fred Schmidt: It’s not a new discussion. It’s common knowledge that Class A malls are doing very well and that the discounters — the top end and bottom end — have been doing well over the years. But there was a prediction four or five years ago that the Class B and C malls were going to suffer because they didn’t have the right merchandising. These changes are now manifesting themselves in terms of the …
ONTARIO, CALIF. — Skechers USA Inc., a footwear manufacturer, has opened its largest Skechers mall-based factory outlet store. The 24,000-square-foot store is located at Ontario Mills in Ontario. The store features dedicated shops for the various Skechers lifestyle and performance collections for men and women, an kids area complete with theater and a shop dedicated to the brand’s apparel collection. The Ontario Mills Skechers superstore joins a retail portfolio that includes large-format stores in Las Vegas and Gardena, Calif., plus flagship stores in locations such as Los Angeles’ Hollywood & Highland, Times Square in New York, San Francisco’s Powell Street, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and other cities around the world. At the end of the second quarter of 2017, Skechers had 2,055 stores worldwide, with 584 being company owned.
