Brad Umansky of the Ontario office of Sperry Van Ness says the sale illustrates how more private investors are looking to acquire larger real estate assets. Umansky, who teamed with Vicki Donkin of Sperry Van Ness also in Ontario in representing the seller, says the buyer paid $109,000 above the listed price to win out over the other bidders.

Village Center is an 118,477-sf property at 12550 Amargosa Rd. The seller was Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. The buyer was represented by Lawrence Han of Pacific Allied Asset Management.

The center is located in a highly visible site parallel to the I-15 freeway and adjacent to the Mall at VictorValley. Village Plaza is 97% leased to such tenants as Best Buy, Petsmart, Chase Mortgage, Outback Steakhouse, Factory 2U, AT&T Wireless and Jack in the Box.

The Victorville sale was just the latest in a spate of transactions in the Inland Empire and Orange County that underscore the popularity of leased investments including retail with today's investors. Among the other recently closed deals, which were brokered by Sperry's Reza Investment Group, were the sale of Sierra Vista Plaza, a 76,699-sf retail center in Murrieta, to Pacific Castle Murrieta LP for $13.1 million; the purchase of the 95,416-sf Peninsula Marketplace in Huntington Beach for $27.2 million by a Los Angeles investor; and the sale of the 81,722-sf Palms to Pines center in Palm Desert for $11.7 million.