Gerschel Family, Soboroff Partners Sell Malibu Retail Plaza for $80M

By Nick Trombola July 1, 2024 4:44 pm

Soboroff Partners Managing Director Steve Soboroff; The Park at Cross Creek Shopping Center. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Inclusion Matters by Shane's Inspiration; Joe Chung via Newmark

Grocery-anchored retail sales are still a consistent performer in the real estate industry these days — especially when located in a place like Malibu.

Property owners the Gerschel family and Soboroff Partners have sold The Park at Cross Creek Shopping Center in the famed California beach town for $80 million, according to one source familiar with the deal. Newmark (NMRK) announced the deal and represented both the sellers and the undisclosed private buyer.

“It was a labor of love to bring this center to life after the lengthy entitlement process,” Steve Soboroff, managing director of Soboroff Partners, said in a statement.

The nearly 40,000-square-foot plaza sits on about 6 acres at 23401 Civic Center Way, and is anchored by a 24,529-square-foot Whole Foods Market. Built in 2019, the plaza was the first new retail center constructed in Malibu since the mid-1980s. Other tenants at the fully occupied plaza include Tesla, Blue Bottle Coffee, Howdy’s Sonrisa Cafe and Barefoot Dreams.

Costa Mesa, Calif.-based PacificWest Asset Management will manage and operate the property. A spokesperson for the Gerschel/Soboroff partnership declined to disclose the name of the buyer. Newmark’s Bill Bauman, Kyle Miller and Jay Luchs advised both buyer and seller on the deal.

Elsewhere in Malibu, Torchlight Investors in March provided $135 million first-lien financing for Pacific Equity Properties’ long-planned Cross Creek Ranch, a 122,324-square-foot retail and office plaza in the works around the corner from The Park at Cross Creek. The new debt refinances a $130 million construction loan tied to the property from Related Fund Management.

Additionally, billionaire and Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke last June purchased the 50,700-square-foot Malibu Village Shopping Center for $81.5 million. That price is about 32 percent lower than what previous owner Jamestown bought it for in 2014.

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.