SACRAMENTO, Calif. (RealEstateRama) — CBRE Executive Vice President Philip D. Voorhees announced today that he, Jimmy Slusher and their National Retail Investment Group – West (NRIG-West) team completed the sale of Southgate Plaza, a 339,369-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Sacramento, Calif., leased to three high-performing grocers, Walmart Neighborhood Market, 99 Ranch Market and 99 Cents Only, along with a complementary mix of co-tenants including, Ross Dress for Less, Skechers, Baskin Robbins, Sally Beauty, Payless Shoe Source, Chase Bank, Farmer & Merchants Bank, Taco Bell, H&R Block and others. The sale price for the asset, located at Florin and Franklin in Sacramento, was $42.1 million.
CBRE’s retail investment experts Voorhees, Slusher, Todd Goodman, Megan Wood, Matt Burson, Kirk Brummer, Preston Fetrow and John Read, represented Chicago-based Wrightwood Financial on behalf of one of its managed vehicles. The buyer, also represented by NRIG-West, was a subsidiary of NewMark Merrill Companies, LLC, a Los Angeles-based, full-service retail investment and management company. NewMark Merrill Companies had previously been hired by Wrightwood to oversee the re-tenanting and repositioning of Southgate after the asset was taken over by Wrightwood over five years ago. CBRE’s Sacramento-based Executive Vice President Chris Campbell and his partners First Vice Presidents Scott Carruth and Jason Read were the leasing agents on Southgate Plaza at the time of sale and generated tremendous leasing momentum over their tenure
“Southgate Plaza provided a perfect combination of daily necessity and value-focused anchor tenancy, along with an immediate upside opportunity through the lease-up of currently vacant space. Newmark Merrill excels at managing, merchandising and promoting centers like Southgate Plaza. This was a fantastic transaction for both buyer and seller,” said Voorhees. This was NewMark Merrill’s third acquisition in the Sacramento area.
According to Slusher, “The property had tremendous leasing momentum despite the existing 27% vacancy at the time of sale. In the past 15 months, 53,000 square feet or 21% of the property has been leased up.”
“We have had a longstanding relationship with Newmark Merrill Companies, having previously provided capital to them, and worked closely with them as the project’s asset manager through the downturn,” said Bruce Cohen, CEO of Wrightwood Financial. “After a comprehensive market effort, ably led by the CBRE team, Newmark Merrill emerged as the logical buyer.”
“Investor demand for retail assets with strong fundamentals and an opportunity to improve NOI continue to attract strong interest from private and institutional investors alike, and an asset like Southgate, which has three daily needs generators, as well as best-of-class soft-goods retailers are especially in demand,” said Voorhees.
In 2015, the NRIG-West team was CBRE’s #1 retail investment team nationally with a total transaction volume exceeding $940 million in 63 transactions, encompassing 88 properties, totaling more than four million square feet in size. With this closing, CBRE’s NRIG-West team has closed 203 transactions since the start of 2012 for a total consideration of $3.6 billion. In total, the NRIG-West team has listed and sold more than $9.6 billion in retail transactions. Select NRIG-West Team California listings include Tozai Plaza in Gardena, Calif., listed for sale for $19,365,000; Riverlakes Village in Bakersfield, Calif., listed for sale for $26,250,000; and Upland Freeway Center in Upland, Calif., offered for sale for $23,189,000. More information available at www.cbre.com/nrigwest
About Wrightwood Financial, L.L.C.
Wrightwood Financial, a Chicago-based real estate finance and investment firm, and its predecessor companies have provided over $5 billion of capital to commercial real estate owner-operators for over two decades. Wrightwood invests in real estate operating platforms, providing growth capital, as well as strategic and relationship support to help these companies and their leadership achieve long-term objectives.
About NewMark Merrill Companies
NewMark Merrill Companies is a privately held owner, developer and manager of retail assets throughout California, Colorado and Illinois. The Company currently has over 70 shopping centers, representing over 1,500 tenants and $1.5 billion dollars in asset value. Its expertise is hands-on management, leasing and marketing, along with implementing new retail technologies through its subsidiary Brightstreet Ventures. Its website is www.newmarkmerrill.com.
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2015 revenue). The Company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.