LOS ANGELES—Decron Corp. has sold a three-property shopping center portfolio to Retail Opportunity Investment Corp., a public REIT, for $108.5 million. The three properties total 370,453 square feet and are located in the Mission Viejo, Thousand Oaks and Ontario markets of Southern California.

“Originally this wasn't a portfolio sale. We were marketing the Mission Viejo asset, and after a successful and competitive campaign, the buyer made an offer on Mission Viejo and offered the same very quick terms on the other two assets,” Kyle Miller, corporate managing director at Savills Studley, tells GlobeSt.com. “The seller historically isn't a seller and is actually focused on increasing their retail holdings, however when an aggressive offer was put on the table, it was an opportunity to achieve a handsome return and shift their capital into some high profile Multi-family assets in core California markets.” Miller represented the seller in the transaction along with Bill Bauman, EVP at Savills Studley.

The three properties include Mission Foothill Plaza, located at 28721-28841 Los Alisos Boulevard in Mission Viejo; Park Oaks, located at 1640-1970 N. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks; and Ontario Plaza, located at 920-1070 N. Mountain Avenue in Ontario. For the Mission Viejo property, the sales team received tremendous interest. “We had double digit offers from a mix of institutional and private foreign capital sources,” says Miller. The REIT eventually won the bid with very favorable terms that included speedy due diligence and significant non-refundable deposits.

“In a market that lacks quality opportunities, buyers have to be creative and aggressive to capture the attention of reluctant owners,” says Miller. “ROIC is known to be very creative and has been very successful in procuring off market portfolio opportunities to achieve their goals and place capital in core markets.” Investors are snatching up well-located shopping center properties throughout Southern California. Recently, Storm Properties made headlines with its purchase of a 22,000-square-foot retail center in Glendora.