MCB Real Estate Pays $65M for SoCal Grocery-Anchored Plaza
By Nick Trombola September 5, 2024 5:48 pm
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Investment sales of Grocery-anchored shopping center sales are a strong component of the retail market, and the trade of a 273,000-square-foot property in Southern California’s Inland Empire is the latest example of that fact.
Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate, together with a fund managed by DRA Advisors, paid $64.7 million for Falcon Ridge Town Center at 15218-15320 Summit Avenue in Fontana, Calif. The deal is the first completed by the joint venture. The seller of the property is an entity that shares an address with Site Centers, a real estate investment trust based in Beachwood, Ohio, according to property records.
“The area in and around Fontana is rapidly growing with more affluent residents moving in every year, and Falcon Ridge sits right in the middle of that growth, offering an all-encompassing shopping experience that’s unmatched in the region,” P. David Bramble, MCB managing partner and co-founder, said in a statement.
The fully leased plaza, built in 2005 and renovated in 2023, is anchored by regional grocery chain Stater Bros. Markets, and shadow-anchored by Target. Other tenants include Ulta Beauty, Michaels, Dollar Tree and Ross Dress for Less. The plaza is just off the Beech Avenue exit of Interstate 15, about 50 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles.
“The Falcon Ridge Town Center investment aligns with DRA’s retail strategy of acquiring high-quality open-air shopping centers with value-add opportunity together with top retail operators across the U.S.,” Brett Gottlieb, DRA Advisors’ managing director, said.
While grocery-anchored retail centers remain a stable investment, their grocery-less cousins are having a tougher time. Take for instance the Puente Hills Mall in California’s City of Industry in L.A. County, roughly 40 miles west of Fontana. Despite the mall’s vaunted status as a filming location for the original “Back to the Future” film, these days it is a proverbial ghost town, with many of its tenants departing before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
A joint venture between RCB Equities and Real Estate Development Associates in August landed a $115 million acquisition loan for the more than 1 million-square-foot mall, but as a redevelopment project, rather than a simple ownership transfer or renovation. The specifics on the JV’s redevelopment plans are not yet clear.
Nick Trombola can be reached at NTrombola@commercialobserver.com.
