City Center Retail Acquires Mall, Adjacent Property

LAS VEGAS-City Center Retail LLC has acquired the 190,000-sf Showcase Mall on Las Vegas Boulevard, adjacent to the MGM Grand and New York New York hotel-casino complexes for $142 million. The San Francisco-based real estate firm also acquired an adjacent parcel on which it is planning a condominium-over-retail development.The mall, which is all but leased up, is home to such tenants as Coca Cola, M & M’s, United Artists Theaters, adidas and Gameworks. With no significant near-term rollover, no changes are immediately in store for the mall, though City Center principal Sigurd Anderson tells GlobeSt.com that “there are a couple of leasing opportunities we are exploring.”The purchase price for the adjacent parcel, a three-quarter acre site that holds a Denny’s restaurant, was not revealed. Anderson says the purchase price added “tens of millions” to the total investment, and in a prepared statement City Center Retail estimates the combined value of the two properties at about $250 million when the additional development is complete.Anderson says the new development, which will incorporate the Denny’s restaurant, will have 60,000 sf to 80,000 sf of retail on two or three levels topped by 80 high-end condominium units with views of the Strip and the mountains beyond. The asking price for the condominiums will be in excess of $500 per sf, says Anderson, adding that interest is strong already for the retail. Construction is scheduled to commence in early 2006 and take no more than 18 months to complete.JP Morgan Chase provided $92 million in permanent financing for the mall. Nevada State Bank provided acquisition financing for the adjacent parcel. The purchase follows City Center’s December 2004 sale of Silver City Plaza, a recently completed 560,000-sf mall that it sold for $37.5 million. The fully leased 1.2-acre retail center is shadow-anchored by Walgreens and includes Ross Dress for Less, Denny’s Restaurant and a 7-Eleven convenience store. The new owner is a group of tenant-in-common investors represented by Passco Real Estate Enterprises Inc. and 1031 Exchange Options.In other Vegas-area retail news, American Nevada Co. of Henderson, NV sold a portfolio of four retail centers there to Costa Mesa, CA-based Donahue Schriber Realty Group for $60.5 million. The four centers are Pebble Marketplace, Paseo Verde Plaza, Green Valley Plaza and Gateway Plaza. Pebble Marketplace and Paseo Verde Plaza are both anchored by Smith’s Food and Drug. Green Valley Plaza is anchored by Trader Joe’s and Big 5 Sporting Goods. Gateway Plaza includes a 7-Eleven. Lucescu Group, based out of Marcus & Millichap’s Newport Beach, CA office, had the exclusive listing assignment and also procured the buyer.