Thousand Oaks is anchored by Bealls Department Store, Blockbuster Video and H.E.B. Food Store, a large privately held grocery store chain headquartered in San Antonio. The new owner is Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors, one of the largest REITs listed on the NYSE.

The seller is T REIT Inc., a public but un-traded REIT that acquired the property in December 2000 for $13 million. The "T" stands for tax free, as the REIT focuses on properties in states that do not have an income tax. T REIT is managed by Santa Ana, CA-based Triple Net Properties Realty Inc., which manages two public-but-untraded REITs and also aggregates tenant-in-common transactions for investors in 1031 exchanges.

"Grocery-anchored retail is real hot," says Steve Corea, T REIT's head of acquisitions. "People have just got to have it."