LADERA RANCH, CALIF. — Gary Bechtel has been appointed as the new president of Money360. Bechtel will be responsible for expanding Money360’s lending programs, increasing loan production and guiding the company in its growth efforts. Prior to joining the firm, Bechtel served as the chief lending/originations officer at CU Business Partners. He has also held executive positions at Johnson Capital Group, Hometown Commercial Capital and Meridian Capital Group. The commercial real estate marketplace lending platform is headquartered in the South Orange County submarket of Ladera Ranch.
BOULDER, COLO. — UniversityParent has launched Best for Parents, a certification tool created to help parents determine which student housing options meet their priorities, and to allow businesses providing student housing to express their value to these stakeholders in housing decisions. Best for Parents certification takes into account the aspects of housing that matter most to parents, such as safety, convenience, student-friendly features, and professional, accessible management and maintenance. Along with providing financial input, parents are a source of support and advice to students. The Best for Parents certification allows parents to make well-informed suggestions regarding their student’s housing. Housing facilities that earn the Best for Parents label receive a parent page on the UniversityParent site outlining the housing company’s answers to the top parent questions, recognition as a Best for Parents facility in the UniversityParent directory, and a plaque and window cling for display.
LOS ANGELES — Thorofare Capital has provided a $7.7 million bridge loan to a partnership between Cadence Capital Investments and Oakwood Real Estate Partners for the off-market acquisition of a retail property located near The Grove on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. The non-recourse, one-year, interest-only loan features a fixed rate. The borrower plans to reposition the 12,500-square-foot property, which was 56 percent leased at the time of closing.
SAN LEANDRO, CALIF. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a retail property located at E. 14th St. in San Leandro. A limited liability company bought the 22,520-square-foot property, which is occupied by CVS/pharmacy, for $4.1 million. Fabio Sangiorgi of Marcus & Millichap’s Palo Alto office represented the buyer in the transaction. The name of the seller was not released.
NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEV. — Conn’s Inc., a Houston-based furniture and specialty home goods retailer, has opened its 100th store. The new, 52,000-square-foot centennial Conn’s HomePlus store is located in North Las Vegas. The company is on schedule to open between 15 and 18 stores in its current fiscal year, which ends on Jan. 31. Conn’s plans to open as many as 25 stores in its 2017 fiscal year. Conn’s is a furniture and specialty retailer currently operating 100 retail locations in 12 states: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
SEATTLE — Online retail giant Amazon has opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore, Amazon Books, at University Village in north Seattle. The store opens 20 years after Amazon began selling books — severely discounted compared to traditional retailers — over the Internet. The 5,500-square-foot store, which offers as many as 6,000 titles and an additional 2,000 square feet of storage, is a physical extension of the company website, combining the benefits of online pricing with traditional book shopping, the company told the Associated Press in a statement. Inside the store, shoppers will find book displays that contain cards with ratings and reviews. Shoppers can buy the book now, or save the review card and purchase the book online later. The store will not be a location to pick up Amazon orders. While the store will showcase Amazon’s Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets and Fire TV streaming-media devices, it will focus first on being a bookstore. All books will face outward, displaying their entire covers rather than only the spines showing.
DUBLIN, CALIF. — Ross Stores, Inc. has appointed Brian Morrow as president and chief merchandising officer of dd’s Discounts, effective Dec. 7. Morrow will report directly to Barbara Rentler, the company’s CEO, and be responsible for directing all aspects of merchandising at dd’s Discounts. Morrow has more than 30 years of merchandising management experience including roles with Macy’s West, Mervyn’s, Macy’s North/Marshall Field’s and May Company. Most recently, he served as president and chief merchandising officer for Stein Mart Inc.
GLENDALE AND TEMPE, ARIZ. — Lee & Associates has arranged the sale of two Arizona shopping centers for a combined $16.4 million. Properties include 51st & Olive Square, an 88,225-square-foot shopping center located in Glendale; and Playa Del Norte, an 11,499-square-foot shopping center located in Tempe. Patrick Dempsey and Jan Fincham of Lee & Associates worked on behalf of both the buyer, 51st & Olive Station LLC, and the undisclosed seller in the 51st & Olive Square transaction. Dempsey, Fincham, Chris McClurg and Matt Frederick of Lee & Associates co-listed and secured the buyer, Crow Holdings Capital Real Estate, in the Playa Del Norte transaction.
TURLOCK AND FRESNO, CALIF. — Inland Real Estate Acquisitions Inc. has facilitated the acquisitions of two shopping centers in Turlock and Fresno. In the first transaction, Inland Real Estate Income Trust Inc. acquired Blossom Valley Plaza, a shopping center located at 2900 Geer Road in Turlock, for an undisclosed sum. Constructed in 1988, the 111,558-square-foot shopping center was 100 percent leased at the time of sale to a variety of tenants, including Raley’s grocery store, Wells Fargo, Supercuts, Subway, Papa John’s, GameStop and Jay’s Tires. Matthew Tice of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions Inc. facilitated the purchase on behalf of Inland Real Estate Income Trust. The name of the seller was not released. Additionally, Inland Real Estate Acquisitions facilitated the purchase of Marketplace at El Paseo, a 224,683-square-foot shopping center in Fresno, for an Inland-related party. Terms of the acquisition, including seller and purchase price, were not released.
MADERA, CALIF. — Lancaster Pollard has arranged the refinancing of an $11.3 million bridge loan into a $13.3 million, non-recourse FHA permanent loan for Cedar Creek Senior Living, a 112-unit independent living, assisted living and memory care community in Madera, a small town between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Woodset Partners LLC owns the property, which Integral Senior Living operates. The property opened in 2005 and in 2010 was the winner of the Assisted Living Federation of America’s (ALFA) Best of the Best Award. Lancaster originally arranged the bridge loan in 2013 to ensure Woodset retained ownership of the community. The intent was to refinance the loan into permanent financing through FHA. The new loan structure removed many covenants, paid off the $11.3 million bridge loan and $900,000 in mezzanine debt, and provides debt service savings. In addition, the financing funds repairs to the property and a $445,000 deposit to the replacement reserve account. Jason Dopoulos led the transaction for Lancaster Pollard.