Escondido Retail Center Changes Hands for $25M

By Ariela Moraru

Gateway Center, Escondido, Calif.

Faris Lee Investments has arranged the $24.8 million sale of Gateway Center, an 89,625-square-foot retail center in Escondido, Calif. The company represented both the seller, a partnership led by GDA Real Estate Services, and the buyer, a San Diego County-based private investor. The transaction closed at a 6.5 percent cap rate.

“The seller felt it was an ideal time in the property’s investment cycle to exit the asset and achieve its return objectives,” said Faris Lee Investments’ Rick Chichester in prepared remarks.

He added that Faris Lee helped the seller negotiate early lease renewals with anchor tenants prior to putting the property on the market in order to maximize buyer interest an value. “This strategy was instrumental in further stabilizing the center, generating multiple offers and ultimately facilitating the sale and its financing in a relatively compressed timeframe.”

Located on 7.1 acres at 810-860 W. Valley Pkwy., just off Interstate 15, the 2003-built property is in a retail hub that has nearly 200,000 cars pass through each day. The anchor tenants of the 95 percent-leased property are Michaels and Barnes & Noble. Nearby retailers including Target, Home Depot, Ross, Albertsons and TJ Maxx. The asset is adjacent to the Escondido Transit Center, which transports over 1.6 million passengers annually, and will soon be linked to it by a bridge connected to the property’s eastern boundary.

Escondido Gateway is a $20 million project that also includes 28,500 square feet of Class A office space.

Also in California, Faris Lee recently arranged the $56.6 million sale of a retail property in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Image via Google Earth