SAN DIEGO — Westcore Properties has purchased a 67,681-square-foot industrial building in the San Diego submarket of Scripps Ranch for $7.3 million. The building is located at 10050 Scripps Ranch Court. The seller, window manufacturer Skagfield, is leasing the property through January 2016. The building will undergo a major rebranding early next year. Todd Murphy of Cushman & Wakefield represented Westcore. Bob Mooney of Colliers International represented Skagfield.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Autograph Collection Hotels has added The Citizen hotel in Sacramento to its portfolio. The hotel is situated inside the California Life Insurance Building. It contains the Grange Restaurant and Bar, as well as 9,000 square feet of meeting space. Autograph is part of the Marriott International brand. Its global portfolio consists of 93 hotels worldwide.
OAKLAND, CALIF. – Meridian has purchased a 19,202-square-foot medical office building in Oakland for an undisclosed sum. The building is located at 380 W. MacArthur Blvd. Meridian plans to invest about $2.2 million into the building. This is the firm’s first value-add medical office acquisition in the Oakland area. It is Meridian’s first speculative purchase this year. The seller was BIC Oakland.
CORONA DEL MAR, CALIF. — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) has arranged the $8.36 million sale of two fully-occupied, two-story retail/office buildings totaling 11,526 square feet in Corona Del Mar. Ian Brown of NGKF represented the seller, Masters Properties, and the buyer, 39 Beach View LK100 LLC, in the all-cash transaction.
DUBLIN, CALIF. — Dublin, Calif.-based Ross Stores Inc. opened 19 Ross Dress for Less locations and seven dd’s DISCOUNTS locations across 14 states in September and October. These new locations completed the company’s 2015 expansion plan to add a total of 90 stores during the year.
FULLERTON, CALIF. — Safeco has acquired 914 West Orangethorpe Ave., a 79,898-square-foot retail property occupied by Food 4 Less in Fullerton, for $22.5 million. Heslin Holdings Inc. and Becker Development had jointly owned the property. The Food 4 Less lease extends through March 2026.
The retail market in Los Angeles is demonstrating exponential growth. Rents are going up, cap rates are going down and occupancy is soaring. Naturally, as lease prices rise, so do sale prices. As such, it is becoming increasingly difficult for investors to find opportunities where substantial rent growth is possible. Tenant competition is also fierce, and landlords are benefitting from extremely high demand throughout the market. Competition Abounds It’s only natural that retailers are competing over space as occupancy rises. One trend that has emerged in Los Angeles is competition among not only direct competitors, but indirect competitors as well. For example, a small grocer might compete with a Ross Dress 4 Less for the same location. Fueling this competition is an increase in large national retailers seeking out smaller urban spaces in downtown areas. Target, for example, is opening a store in LA’s Koreatown on Vermont and 6th streets at the base of a high-rise apartment building. When national soft goods chains open in urban hubs, there will be an evolution of retail surrounding those stores. Smaller discount stores and mom-and-pop retailers will likely suffer, which will lead to vacancies that tend to open the doors for new specialty …
MURRIETA, CALIF. — Developer and operator Anthem Memory Care has broken ground on Vineyard Place, a $12.6 million memory care community in Murrieta, about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Anthem expects to open the 38,000-square-foot, 66-unit community in summer 2016. Working with Anthem on developing and building Vineyard Place are CM Consulting, Markham Development Management Group, CBTwo Architects, Consolidated Contracting and LTC Properties, which is providing financing. Anthem, based in Lake Oswego, Ore., also operates a dementia care community in Chico, Calif., and four in Denver. It is currently developing three communities in the greater Chicago area.
MARINA, CALIF. — AMCAL Monterey Bay LLC has opened The Promontory, a 174-suite, 579-bed off-campus student housing development near the campus of California State University at Monterey Bay. The development is comprised of three four-story buildings featuring 174 fully furnished suites, in which students share a common kitchen and living room in the two-, three-, and four-bedroom housing pods. Each bedroom has its own bathroom, and each individual bedroom locks for privacy and security. Each of the three buildings also features an interior courtyard for studying and socializing. The community shares 6,500 square feet of interior common amenities that include study rooms, a cyber cafe with kitchen facility, computer lab, theater, game room and fitness center, as well as an outdoor basketball court. AMCAL Monterey Bay LLC purchased the 8.27-acre parcel of land from the City of Marina in January 2014. The project is privately funded by Bank of the West and private equity financed. Construction was completed in 18 months, which included the demolition of the abandoned Fort Ord Motor Pool. The development will be managed by the University Corp., the nonprofit that manages all of the campus’ student housing. AMCAL Monterey Bay LLC negotiated and signed a 20-year master …
LAKE FOREST, CALIF. — Lake Forest-based Del Taco is set to develop 27 new locations with three groups in central California. Three new locations are set to open within the next six months. Mike Sater, one of BP/Tesoro ARCO and AM/PM’s largest west coast franchisees, has signed a 20-store development agreement for six counties in the central valley. Sater’s first two Del Taco stores will open in Fresno and Clovis, with a third planned for Merced.