Retail Opportunity Investments to Buy Fallbrook Shopping Center for $210M

 By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp., of San Diego, has entered into a binding contract to acquire Fallbrook Center, in West Hills, Calif., for $210 million in cash, the REIT announced Monday.

The shopping center, on Fallbrook Avenue at Victory and Van Owen, has about 1.1million square feet of gross leasable area (762,000 square feet of owned GLA).

The sale is expected to close during the second quarter.

“Fallbrook is one of the strongest shopping centers in the San Fernando Valley and is an excellent strategic fit with our existing portfolio, given its location and market position, as well as its diverse mix of tenants, many of which are necessity-based retailers,” Stuart Tanz, ROIC’s president & CEO, said in a release. “In addition to the strategic attributes, we expect that the transaction will be immediately accretive and enhance our long-term, stable cash flow. Going forward, there are opportunities to increase cash flow and enhance value through implementing a variety of leasing, repositioning and development initiatives, as well as capitalizing on economies of scale and operating synergies.”

ROIC declined to comment further on the transaction.

FallBrook Center is 98 percent leased overall, 96 percent leased to national retailers and 87 percent leased to anchor tenants with an average remaining lease term of 12 years.

The center is anchored by Home Depot, Kohl’s, Target and WalMart; by three supermarkets (Ralph’s, Trader Joe’s and Sprouts); and by a seven-screen theater, the AMC Fallbrook 7.

The seller is General Growth Properties, according to whose website the center opened 1966, originally as a traditional enclosed mall, and was renovated in 1986 and in 2002/03. A General Growth fact sheet describes the center as the West San Fernando Valley’s premier big-box center and one of the region’s premier power retail centers.