Blackstone Takes Control of SoCal Shopping Center Portfolio in REIT Acquisition
The company acquired eight retail properties in Orange County as part of a larger $4 billion deal to absorb Retail Opportunity Investment Corporation
By Nick Trombola February 24, 2025 3:35 pm
reprints
The ubiquitous Blackstone (BX) is now the proud owner of a national retail-focused real estate investment trust and its assets, a portfolio that includes over 30 retail properties in Southern California.
Blackstone’s acquisition of Retail Opportunity Investment Corporation (ROIC), valued at $4 billion including existing debt, closed earlier this month after its announcement in November. ROIC held 93 retail properties under its wing across the West Coast, totaling nearly 11 million square feet.
“The [grocery-anchored shopping center] sector is experiencing accelerating fundamentals, benefiting from nearly a decade of virtually no new construction, while demand for brick-and-mortar grocery stores, restaurants, fitness and other lifestyle retailers remains healthy,” Jacob Werner, co-head of Americas Acquisitions at Blackstone Real Estate, said in a statement about the deal in November.
Eight of those properties — plazas and grocery-anchored shopping centers — are in Orange County. Blackstone’s deal for ROIC included 32 transactions (with a total price tag of nearly $275 million, minus the prices for the parcels at Santa Ana Downtown Plaza, which weren’t immediately clear) for separate parcels at those properties, according to the Orange County Business Journal, citing CoStar data.
The properties are Peninsula Marketplace and 5 Points Plaza, both in Huntington Beach; Fullerton Crossroads in Fullerton; Harbor Place Center in Garden Grove; Santa Ana Downtown Plaza in Santa Ana; Cypress City West in Cypress; The Village at Nellie Gail Ranch in Laguna Hills; and Marketplace at Mission Foothills in Mission Viejo.
Out of that group, Blackstone paid the highest price for the parcels at Peninsula Marketplace, anchored by Ralphs Fresh Fare supermarket and Planet Fitness, at 19021-19125 Goldenwest Street, acquiring them for $40 million, per the OCBJ. Most of Fullerton Crossroads, at 3200-3362 Yorba Linda Boulevard, sold for $37.3 million, with a Kohl’s there trading hands in a separate deal for $35.7 million.
Harbor Place Center, at 13190-13220 Harbor Boulevard and including tenants such as Ross Dress for Less, sold for $36.9 million, while 5 Points Plaza, at 18593 Main Street, traded hands in two separate deals, for $35.2 million and $33.5 million, according to the OCBJ.
The remaining Orange County shopping centers in the portfolio swapped ownership for smaller figures: Cypress Center West, at 4005-4197 Ball Road, sold for $25 million; the majority of The Village at Nellie Gail Ranch, at 26532 Moulton Parkway, sold for $12.8 million, with a Smart & Final Extra! grocery store there also selling for $12.3 million; and Marketplace at Mission Foothills, at 28721-28841 Los Alisos Boulevard, sold for $6.2 million. The price Blackstone paid for Santa Ana Downtown Plaza, at 301-431 East 1st Street, was not immediately clear.
A representative for Blackstone declined a request to comment further.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
