LEOMINSTER, MA-Vintage Real Estate is picking up the Mall at Whitney Field, a 46-year-old regional center on 35 acres here. The Los Angeles-based firm, which acquires and redevelops underperforming retail assets, is purchasing the 700,000-square-foot property from C-III Capital, which hired Eastdil Secured this past October to market it, according to published reports.

Vintage did not disclose the purchase price, although Real Capital Analytics data indicate a contract price of $37 million. That's less than half the $81.9 million paid by Walton Whitney Investors V for Whitney Field in May 2007, including the assumption of a $74.5-million loan. In the interim, the loan went into default and, in November 2010, foreclosure.

With average sales per square foot of $355 for non-anchor tenants, “The mall has done remarkably well given the circumstances of the economic downturn and its foreclosure,” says Roger Burghdorf, EVP of leasing for Vintage, in a release. Along with “substantial anchor tenants,” he says, the mall offers “an attractive array of retail and restaurants including Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, Justice, Payless Shoes and Panera Bread, and we are working with numerous retailers to fill some open spaces.”

One of those open spaces, a 66,000-square-foot berth formerly occupied by Circuit City and vacant following the electronics chain's bankruptcy in 2008, has just been filled by Burlington Coat Factory, which has signed a 10-year lease. The off-price clothing retailer expects to open its doors at Whitney Field in the spring of 2014, the release states.

Located at 100 Commercial Rd. in Leominster, Whitney Field serves a consumer base of about 165,000 within a 10-mile radius. Macy's, Sears, JCPenney, regional supermarket chain Market Basket, Toys “R” Us and Old Navy anchor the mall, and there are approximately 70 additional retailers and restaurants.

Vintage Real Estate will oversee operation at Whitney Field, including marketing and leasing. The new owner plans to refresh the center's interior, according to the release, a program that may include improved lighting, new paint, fixtures and furniture.

Built in 1967, the center was last renovated in 2001. It was 92% occupied as of March, according to RCA.

Vintage has been bolstering its portfolio of regional malls lately. On the acquisition side, the company bought the 406,500-square-foot Heritage Mall in Albany, OR this past December. “We continue to seek special situation retail properties, like the Mall at Whitney Field, throughout the US,” Fred Sands, chairman of Vintage, says in the release.