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You've heard by now that Pathfinder Partners acquired Temecula's Bel Villaggio retail center, hit hard by the recession. Managing director Scot Eisendrath tells us why the 46%-vacant center is a great value-add play (besides what we presume is unlimited access to Original Pancake House).  Of course, a 40% discount to replacement cost is nice. (Everyone loves a bargain. It's why we eat at Original Pancake House... can you tell we're hungry?) When discretionary spending declined, Bel Villaggio's boutique stores were unable to pay the center's high rents and a number of tenants bailed. So that made it a perfect target for Pathfinder's opportunistic investment strategy. (The specialty center was acquired in two separate transactions from CW Capital and Torchlight Investors. The CMBS special servicers foreclosed on the previous owner, who bought the property in phases between 2004 and '06.)  Built in phases from '02 to '05, Bel Villaggio boasts a European village design with awnings, trellised courtyards, and walkways and roundabouts. (You'd think you were strolling through Prague, except their pancakes are thinner.) Scot says the tenants who have remained are doing well, including anchors Macaroni Grill, Navy Federal Credit Union, and Cosi. Pathfinder is getting bids for a renovation to common areas and new outdoor seating. Scot says this was the right time in the cycle to buy. Temecula has bottomed out--rents are moving up and vacancy in the surrounding centers has tightened to the 10% range.  The center benefits from being next to the Promenade, a Class-A regional mall. The revamped center will have lower rents, Scot says. Pipeline-wise, Pathfinder's looking at additional retail as well as residential opportunities--land, broken condos, and value-add multifamily in the Western US. The Wisconsin-native has two young kids: a son who plays competitive baseball and soccer, and a daughter who's into competitive dance. Fun fact: He's cousins with CBRE vice chairman Brian Eisendrath. |
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Proof Of An Office Recovery The San Diego office market continues to recover, as recent acquisitions by Kilroy Realty, Alvarez & Marsal, and Prudential Real Estate Investors show. PREI just bought Rio San Diego Plaza, a six-story, 189k SF office building in Mission Valley. It was sold by AEW Capital Management on behalf of an institutional client. JLL's Lynn LaChapelle, who closed the sale along with Bob Prendergast, says the building boasts above-average floor plates and parking ratio (and no, that's not just because people are parking their car inside on the large floor plates); it's also LEED Silver.  Loeb & Loeb repped Alvarez & Marsal in the acquisition of Faraday Research Center (above) in Carlsbad, a 65k SF building leased to Ibis Biosciences--and some cabbage tenants (great to have since they put down roots and sign long-term leases). Not to be outdone, Kilroy's wallet opened wide to buy The Heights in Del Mar for $126M. The campus has a three-story office building and a three-story life science building totaling 210k SF, plus a subterranean parking structure. In addition, the nearly 14-acre property includes a land site that's fully entitled for a 90k SF office building. The campus sits directly next to KRC's future development, One Paseo. The existing LEED Silver buildings were built in 2004 and are 100% leased to five tenants. |
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Catching Up With Lee & Associates |
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 At the ICSC Western Division Conference last week, we caught Lee & Associates local pros--North San Diego County president Dave Howard (third from left) and office and marketing manager Tara O'Connor (left)--along with The Hoyt Organization's Leeza Hoyt and Lee & Associates West LA president Duncan Lemmon. Dave and Duncan say the mood at the event was definitely upbeat, and tell us its North San Diego County office recently repped two separate landlords in 10-year leases with Party City and a 7-Eleven store location. Lee's Western offices from Arizona and Central and Northern Cali also attended the show. |
 Leeza fielded a question about B2B social media on a Special Industry Group panel on social networking. Other media mavens on the panel included NewMark Merrill's Heather Danko, Vestar California's Kim Daskas, and Regency Centers' Emily Ford, along with their moderator, Velocity Retail Group's Dave Cheatham. (We tweeted in our question before remembering we were in the same room as everyone and instead just used our Mouth 2.0.) They also discussed how Yelp could be a detriment due to bad reviews, to the point where at least one city is thinking of taking a closer look at the site because of the impact on small businesses. |
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