Vintage Purchases 407 KSF Oregon Mall

Vintage Real Estate has acquired Heritage Mall, an approximate 406,500-square-foot shopping destination in Albany, Ore., from a consortium of lenders, which removed $38 million in debt from the property.

“We went to this property for bid four years ago and thought it was a great property and had potential, but we couldn’t buy it,” Fred Sands, Vintage Real Estate’s chairman, told Commercial Property Executive. “It was taken back by the lenders so the timing was good and it was our time to buy.”

Located at 1895 14th Avenue SE, Heritage Mall is situated on 33 acres just west of Interstate 5, and just north of Corvallis, home of Oregon State University and its more than 26,000 students.

Vintage owns numerous retail properties in California, Washington and other states in the U.S., but this is its first retail property investment in Oregon.

“It’s a strong addition to our retail real estate portfolio. We’re all over Washington State and it was time for Oregon,” Sands said. “We like the town and we’re learning more about the state. There’s a young population and young people tend to spend what they make.”

The mall was remodeled in 2006 and currently is 50 percent occupied. Plans are already in motion to fill up the empty spaces.

“We have the capacity, both in terms of capital and management, to reposition the mall and improve its performance by adding many national tenants,” Sands added. “We are currently talking to a sporting goods store, a department store and a theater about coming in.”

The mall is home to 52 major retailers, boutiques and restaurants including Target, Sears, Ross Dress for Less and Old Navy, Maurice’s, rue 21, Zumiez, Famous Footwear, Game Stop and Bath & Body Works.

“We’re going to fill it up and make it a real shopping destination. We have discussions already in progress for numerous additional national tenants and we have identified a replacement anchor for the vacant Gottschalks space,” Sands said. “This new anchor tenant, along with the planned redevelopment, will generate significant new customer traffic and allow Vintage to upgrade the existing tenant mix and increase occupancy.”

Per company policy, the price of the transaction was not disclosed.

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