The center is anchored by a 42,247-
square-foot Vons, a 77,000-square-
foot Kohl’s and a 24,000-square-foot
CVS/pharmacy.

SAN DIEGO-Balboa Realty LLC has sold Balboa Mesa Shopping Center, a 189,321-square-foot infill shopping center anchored by market-dominant grocer Vons, to Regency Centers Corp. for $59.5 million. With this acquisition, Regency now owns 69 properties in California, including 10 retail centers totaling 1.5 million in the San Diego market.

The property, which is 95% leased, “offers an immediate redevelopment opportunity to increase the square footage of the center, further improving the net operating income for the project,” according to Gregg Sadowsky, senor market officer for Regency Centers, a national owner, operator and developer of grocery-anchored and community shopping centers.

The center, built in 1969, is anchored by a 42,247-square-foot Vons, a 77,000-square-foot Kohl’s and a 24,000-square-foot CVS/pharmacy. Located at one of the city’s busiest intersections—Balboa and Genesee aves.—the neighborhood center is situated in a major retail node with 63,000 vehicles passing the site daily. The center is surrounded by a residential population of 126,000 and a daytime population of 109,000 within a three-mile radius.

“Balboa Mesa fits Regency’s standards for dominant shopping center, including infill location, market-leading anchors and population density,” said Howard Overton, VP of transactions for Regency Centers, in a prepared statement.

Sadowsky added that the center’s prominent location, dense residential and daytime populations and strong traffic counts make it one of the more desirable locations for retailers in the San Diego market.

As GlobeSt. previously reported, according to recent research by Jones Lang LaSalle, major submarkets with strong demographic and population growth, a lack of new high-quality supply and improving leasing velocity are leading a modestly positive outlook in the retail sector. San Diego’s retail market is still bottoming out, and forecasts all for only incremental improvement to absorption through 2016, but healthy absorption during the latter part of 2011 helped decrease the vacancy rate by 60 basis points, year over year. However, since much of the desired space is already occupied, for demand to increase appreciably deliveries of new retail space must increase.