CAMARILLO, CA-A private investor has completed the acquisition of Camarillo Plaza in Ventura County for $17.7 million in a bankruptcy sale, GlobeSt.com learns in this exclusive story. The transaction took nearly two years to complete due to loan restrictions, which Colliers International's EVP Tom Lagos and associate VP El Warner were able to avoid.

“Initially, every bidder had to assume the existing loan, which made it very prohibitive for people to step up and place their bid and then go through the challenge of obtaining a CMBS loan,” Lagos, who represented the center in the transaction, tells GlobeSt.com. The CMBS loan was well above market rate, at about 6.2% rate when current rates are closer to 4.5%, which devalued the property.

After several years of attempting to sell the building with these loan restrictions, Lagos teamed with a lender to have the restrictions removed. “We had a connection with the representative of the lender, who decided to work with us,” says Lagos. “At the end of the day, it was good for them too because they got a portion of their fees back and they didn't have to foreclose on anyone.”