LOS ANGELES—CBRE Global Investors likes suburban markets in the greater Los Angeles area for investment opportunities. As proof, a fund managed by the group has acquired a grocer-anchored retail center in Burbank, CA. The sales price for the property was not disclosed.

“This location really fits the bill of suburban, but also has some good infill characteristics,” Kim Hourihan, portfolio manager and senior managing director at CBRE Global Investors, tells GlobeSt.com. “Los Angeles has been a target market of ours on retail, and we felt like this property fit really well into the demographics of the area. We like the greater Los Angeles area, but it doesn't always have to be in Beverly Hills. There are a lot of pockets within L.A. that have a lot of interest to us as well.”

Located at 25-113 E. Alameda Ave. in Burbank, the 74,391-square-foot retail center is fully occupied by seven tenants. It is close to the 5 freeway and the new Ikea that is currently under construction, scheduled for completion in 2017. The location and grocery-anchor tenant attracted the fund to this particular opportunity. “The fund likes to invest in couple of areas of retail, and one that we are pretty keen on is the grocer-dominated retail center,” says Hourihan. “Grocery seems to be the one areas that consumers still leave their house for. So, for that reason, we really like the retail space with a dominant grocer. We are very careful about what the sales per square foot is and how active the grocer is in the market, and this center really checked all of those boxes for us. We are really excited about this acquisition.” CBRE Global Investors plans to hold the property in the long term.  

CBRE Global Investors acquisitions director Brad Cummings oversaw the transaction for the fund, while El Warner and Tom Lagos of Colliers International represented the seller.

CBRE Global Investors isn't the only investor looking for grocery-anchored opportunities. Competition for these types of assets has soared recently. For example, JH Real Estate acquired the Hawaiian Gardens Town Center, a 124,645-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center, from HP Investors for $33 million last week. The sale attracted multiple buyers thanks to a recent long-term lease with Walmart Neighborhood Market.