NewMark Merrill Acquires Another SoCal Shopping Center
Prime Finance provided a $17.3 million loan
By Greg Cornfield December 4, 2023 10:45 am
reprints
Shopping center developer and owner NewMark Merrill Companies is again expanding its footprint in Southern California.
The Calabasas-based firm announced it acquired a 172,008-square-foot retail center renamed the Collection at Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks from Seritage Retail Group. Property records show it sold for $27.5 million, or nearly $160 per square foot.
Records also show Prime Finance provided about $17.3 million to NewMark Merrill for the acquisition. The Collection was originally built as a multistory Sears department store, and is just over 60 percent leased to Dave & Buster’s, DSW and Nordstrom Rack.
The center is adjacent to the Janss Marketplace shopping center, a 458,000-square-foot neighborhood retail center on the northwest corner of Moorpark Road and Hillcrest Drive that NewMark Merrill acquired more than 20 years ago. The two properties now combine for a 630,000-square-foot regional center with Regal Theaters, Old Navy, Aldi, Five Below, Sky Zone and Buca di Beppo.
The Collection is also directly across the street from The Oaks Mall, owned by Macerich. And on Nov. 12, the Thousand Oaks City Council unanimously approved Greens Group’s plan to build a five-story, 216-room Hilton Hotel at Janss Marketplace in the former Marshalls retail space.
“Rarely do you get the opportunity to be involved with a project adjoining not one but two regional shopping centers, and surrounded by both a substantial day and nighttime population,” Sandy Sigal, president and CEO of NewMark Merrill, said in a statement. “With the proposed development of a 216-room hotel at Janss, and the proposed designation of the entire Janss Marketplace site to allow mixed-use development, we believe The Collection at Janss will be a dynamic destination for the community.”
The acquisition of the Collection was overseen by Sigal, Jim Patton, Brad Pearl, Sandra Kist and Susan Rorison of NewMark Merrill. Phil Voorhees and Jimmy Slusher from CBRE (CBRE) represented Seritage Retail Group. Bryan Gortikov with Gortikov Capital secured financing for the deal with Prime Finance, the lender.
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.
