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AGOURA HILLS, CA-Loja Real Estate LLC’s recent $21.75-million acquisition of a grocery-anchored shopping center here known as Shops at Oak Creek for one of its separate accounts represented something of a coup among transactions of this type: the deal was completed in an off-market transaction that eliminated contending with multiple bidders. Such transactions are rare in the current retail-investment market.
“What we liked about this deal is that there has been a feeding frenzy for core shopping centers that include the anchor with additional shops on the outside,” Scott Kyman, VP of acquisitions for Loja, tells GlobeSt.com. “So, for us to get this center off-market without competing bids was very beneficial for us.”
The property, which was acquired in an all-cash transaction, Kyman continues, was originally listed on the market as a Trader Joe’s for sale, and for some time it was under contract for another buyer who had encountered difficulty in the closing. Shops adjacent to Trader Joe’s in the center were not on the market, nor was a restaurant pad in the center, so Loja needed to negotiate with multiple owners in order to purchase the center as a large-portfolio acquisition.
Kyman adds that the purchase is in line with Loja’s overall strategy covering two different targeted investment vehicles: core or single-tenant retail properties anchored by strong-performing grocers such as Trader Joe’s, and value-add opportunities involving properties in which there is income growth in the future via redevelopment or lease-up, which are mostly in secondary or tertiary markets. The company’s targeted region spans the West Coast from Washington down to San Diego, but also goes as far east as Denver, he tells GlobeSt.com.
The purchase of Shops at Oak Creek represents Loja’s sixth acquisition and second in 2012 anchored by Trader Joe’s. The property is a 36,182-square-foot center developed in 2010 on 5.45 acres of land. The multiple selling entities were represented by Matthew May of May Realty Advisors, and Loja has retained Colliers International to manage the property.
“The shopping center has quickly become a favorite gathering place for the local residents since its opening in 2010,” says Kyman. “Agoura Hills is a community with strong demographics and limited competition due to a difficult entitlement environment.”
Loja Real Estate LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Loja Group LLC, a women-owned real estate investment-management firm with $188 million in assets under management. Loja Group acquires and manages grocery-anchored real estate assets throughout the US for a variety of joint ventures, separate accounts and commingled funds.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
