ONTARIO, CA-Faris Lee Investments has completed the $11.75 million sale of the Town Center Ontario, a 128,330-square-foot retail property that was 85% vacant at the close of escrow. Built in 2002, the center is situated on approximately 11.59 acres and is located at 701-769 N. Milliken Ave in Ontario, CA. Faris Lee was able to secure an international buyer prepared to pay all cash for the location.
Donald MacLellan, senior managing director, Faris Lee Investments, and Richard Walter, president, Faris Lee Investments, represented the seller, LNR, based in Miami. The buyer, who paid all cash, was France-based Oxylane Groupe-Decathlon, a manufacturer of sports apparel and equipment.
Oxylane Groupe-Decathlon was represented by Epsteen & Assoc./Samuels Co. With this transaction, the retailer has confirmed Ontario as one of its first US retail locations. The buyer cited the high traffic location at the confluence of the I-10 and I-15 freeways across from Ontario Mills, California’s largest outlet and value retail shopping destination at 1.7 million-square-feet, as important to its decision. Ontario Mills attracts more than 20 million visitors annually, according to Faris Lee.
Faris Lee also worked with Oxylane Groupe-Decathlon and the City of Ontario to ensure the site met the retailer’s plans for a store opening to be revealed at a later date. “At first the center was a major marketing challenge because of its 85% vacancy,” says MacLellan. “Through Faris Lee’s proprietary investor database we were able to utilize a national and international database of buyers to identify an owner-user who planned on occupying a large portion of the center.”
Faris Lee also had to work creatively with LNR to construct the transaction. “Due to the property’s high vacancy, it fell into receivership. The property’s eventual foreclosure offered the buyer the ability to purchase a truly opportunistic property at a basis much lower than other competitive centers in the area,” Walter explains. “The owner-user scenario was an ideal way to resolve the tenancy issue. We sought out this specific buyer category and worked closely with the loan servicers to ensure a smooth transaction.”
One of the final challenges was qualifying the investor as a legitimate buyer since Oxylane Groupe is new to the West Coast with no US-based personnel. “In this current market, we’re finding that distressed retail transactions require a strategic mix of expertise,” says Walter. “The team needs to understand location, market timing and have a depth of experience working with everyone likely to be involved in the transaction including owners, lenders, retailers, servicers, receivers and, in this case, city officials as well.”
Ontario Town Center’s tenants include: Hooters, Denny’s, LA Carpet, Golden Chopstix and Arizona Leather Co. The property is bounded by the I-10 Freeway to the south and the I-15 Freeway to the east benefiting from 400,000 cars, on the average, traveling by the location daily. The Ontario location draws from a larger trade area than typical retail centers located up to 10 miles away and even further. This trade area includes more than 1 million people with an average household income of nearly $80,000.
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
