BlackRock Makes $38M Retail Play

CARLSBAD, CA-Real estate investment giant BlackRock Realty Advisors Inc. makes another entry into the San Diego area with its purchase of La Costa Towne Center. The firm paid nearly $38.5 million for the site.Located at 7710-7770 El Camino Real, the property includes 92,464 sf of retail and 28,471 sf of office space. La Costa Tower Fund LLC, an entity of BlackRock, acquired the property from St. Louis-based Azure Investors LLC.The six-building property, which is located on a 15.2-acre site, was developed in 1981. The neighborhood shopping center includes anchor tenants Vons Supermarket and Wells Fargo Bank. Other tenants include Tuesday Morning and Hauser Designers. A Downey Savings is also located in the center, but was not part of the deal. Richard Lebert and Mark McEwen of Colliers International represented both parties in the transaction.For BlackRock, the La Costa Towne Center buy is its second San Diego purchase in less than a year. Last August, the firm picked up Rio Vista Plaza III for $22.7 million. In that deal, BlackRock acquired the 79,744-sf class A office property located in the Mission Valley area.Colliers International’s McEwen brokered that deal as well. At the time of the sale, he told GlobeSt.com that BlackRock “is an institutional investor who favors the long-term play.” He added that they paid all cash for the property and planned a 10-year hold.BlackRock’s plans for this latest purchase were not immediately known, but if they follow their pattern, it will be another long-term hold. Overall, retail activity has been extremely tight in the San Diego area, according to a report released last week by Marcus & Millichap.Institutional investment, in particular, has picked up in the area over the past 15 months. According to the report, institutions acquired more than $700 million in retail property locally in 2005. That was an increase of nearly 50% from 2004. Per Marcus & Millichap, “the liquidation of several Mervyn’s locations throughout the county” helped boost activity in the single-tenant, net lease sector as well.