$50M OC Project Wraps Up Retail Component, Marriott Underway

By Ariela Moraru

Springhill Suites by Marriott

ValueRock Realty Partners has completed the retail portion of Lake Forest Gateway Center, a mixed-use redevelopment in Lake Forest, Calif. The next addition to the project will be a 99-key Springhill Suites by Marriott,as the Lake Forest City Council has approved Tharaldson Hospitality Group’s application request. ValueRock also recently secured $36.1 million in refinancing from Deutsche Bank.

Located at 23592 Rockfield Blvd., in an area with 71,000 cars per day, the center is almost fully occupied. ValueRock Director of Leasing Ralph Ongkeko and Director of Development Pat Cox worked closely with leasing brokers Lee & Associates. Tenants include Starbucks, Panera Bread, Peppino’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and Sears Appliance Center. The shopping center is located 3.5 miles south of Irvine Spectrum, one of Southern California’s most popular entertainment and shopping centers.

ValueRock began the redevelopment of the 92,000-square-foot shopping center in 2014, when several office and bank buildings were demolished. The modernization program of the aging retail and offices buildings just off Interstate 5 was the result of several years of design planning. The total program, including construction of the new hotel, is expected to cost more than $50 million.

“Once we began work on the center we were approached by multiple hotel operators who saw an opportunity to add a new hotel to the site,” said Dennis Vaccaro, senior vice president of ValueRock Realty Partners, in prepared remarks. “We then updated the development plan to forgo a portion of the new retail and replace it with the hotel component.  The new plan creates a dynamic mixed-use property.  Working together with our hotel partner we were able to gain city approval for the new development plan.” The new hotel will begin construction later this year and is slated for completion in 2018.

Image courtesy of ValueRock Realty Partners