Investment management firm Barings has acquired a fully let, grocery-anchored shopping centre in Orange County, California. The company paid 66.2 million US dollars for Village Center at Rose in Placentia. The vendor of the property at 600-858 North Rose Drive is First Washington Realty, according to real estate services firm CBRE. The purchase price equates to around 557 US dollars per square foot of lettable area.
The retail centre extends over a lettable area of 118,876 square feet on an approximately 10.15-acre site at the north-east corner of North Rose Drive and Alta Vista Street. The property was built 30 years ago and demonstrates remarkable tenant retention: around 80 per cent of existing tenants have operated their branches at this location for more than a decade.
Long-term grocery anchor and established tenant mix
The anchor tenant since the scheme opened has been supermarket chain Ralphs. With lettable space of around 44,000 square feet, the grocer accounts for roughly 37 per cent of the shopping centre's total area. The remaining units are distributed across a broad spectrum of local convenience and dining concepts.
- —Grocery anchor: Supermarket chain Ralphs with around 44,000 square feet of space
- —Dining: Offerings from Jersey Mike’s Subs, Cold Stone Creamery, WaBa Grill and Carl’s Jr.
- —Services and finance: Branches of Chase Bank and The UPS Store
- —Health and leisure: Facilities of Carbon Health, Phenix Salon Suites and the Australian Swim School
Affluent catchment area secures footfall
Mark Damiani of CBRE highlighted the quality of the location in a statement, noting that the centre serves a densely populated catchment area with above-average household incomes where the supply of new retail space is strictly limited. More than 147,000 people live within a three-mile radius, with new residential developments in the surrounding area continuously boosting demand for the offerings of Ralphs and the other tenants.
In the extended five-mile catchment area, CBRE data indicates more than 372,700 residents with an average household income of around 154,800 US dollars. The property also benefits from around 1,100 feet of street frontage along North Rose Drive, which is passed by approximately 25,000 vehicles each day.
On the vendor side, First Washington Realty was represented by CBRE advisers Mark Damiani, Jimmy Slusher, James Tyrrell and Shaya McClanahan. The institutional investor focuses on convenience- and grocery-anchored retail parks and manages stakes in 134 open-air centres nationwide comprising 21.3 million square feet with a total value of around 8.9 billion US dollars. The buyer Barings, a subsidiary of financial services group MassMutual, oversees around 500 billion US dollars in assets across various asset classes.
