SANTA BARBARA, CA-The historic El Encanto hotel in this oceanside city is being renovated with $45 million in financing arranged by Los Angeles-based Sonnenblich-Eichner. The owner of the 92-room hotel, originally built in the 1920s, is Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. The hotel is expected to reopen in late 2012.

SALES

BALDWIN PARK, CA-GDA Cos. paid $9.7 million for Baldwin Park Town Center, a 24,605-square-foot retail center. Matthew Mousavi and Nicholas Coo of Farris Lee Investments represented both the buyer and seller.

PASADENA, CA-Arenda Capital Management of Los Angeles and AEW, a Boston-based pension advisor, paid $21 million for The Commons, an 87,000-square-foot retail center. Carlos J. Lopez, president of Hi Urban Retail Advisors represented the buyers, while the seller, SRO Properties of Los Angeles, represented themselves.

LEASING

SAN DIEGO, CA-Two new tenants have signed leases in 6502 Convoy Court in the Kearny Mesa area. AutoAnything leased 41,421 square feet for six years in the two-story, 100,000-square-foot building, while California College committed itself to 389,381 square feet in the same building. The combined value of both leases is $11.7 million. Dave Odmark of Cassidy Turley BRE represented the landlord, Chestnut Properties, while Tony Russell of Jones Lang LaSalle and Ton Magnaghi of Studley represented the tenants.

FINANCING

SANTA CRUZ, CA-Paul Schroeder, a managing director  Cohen Financial, arranged $7 million in refinancing for St. George Residences, a 112-unit apartment complex in Santa Cruz. The fixed-rate, 10-year term loan from Wells Fargo Bank has a 30-year amortization. In a separate transaction, Schroder also arranged $7 million in refinancing for the Camarillo Business Center Building V in Camarillo, CA. The owner is an undisclosed local family. The lender was Sun Life Financial of Canada.