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WOODLAND, CA-The 400,000-sf County Fair Mall here has changed hands for $15.1 million. On behalf of a group of tenant-in-common owners, Triple Net Properties of Santa Ana, sold the value-oriented center to an individual investor from Encino, who owns several retail centers.

Woodland is located about 20 miles northwest of Sacramento on Interstate 5. Built in 1986, the 35.23-acre County Fair Mall is located at the intersection of East Gibson and East Street, one block from the 113 Freeway about one mile south of I-5.

The center's anchor space is 100% leased to Gottschalks, Mervyns, Target and J.C. Penney. The shop space is 60% leased. Non-anchor tenants include Foot Locker, Radio Shack, Citiwear, Pacific Sunwear, Washington Mutual and Cinemark Movie 5.

Richard Walter and Dennis Vaccaro of Faris Lee Investments represented Triple Net Properties. Independent broker John Rance represented the buyer. Neither Faris Lee nor Rance could be reached Wednesday for comment.

Woodland is located within Yolo County. Woodland and Davis are the two largest cities within Yolo County and County Fair Mall is the only mall servicing this marketplace. Faris Lee president Richard Walter says the lack of retail competition in the trade area was "extremely attractive" to the buyer.

Less attractive to the buyer were the deferred maintenance and the fact that Target, which owns its building, is rumored to be leaving the center, and J.C. Penney has less than 10 years left on its lease. In addition, the buyer had to assume the existing over-market securitized debt because the cost of defeasance would have been too high.

"Upon taking on the assignment, it was immediately clear that institutional buyers wouldn't be interested in the asset due to the loan terms and its current condition," Vaccaro says. "We utilized our…database of investors to…target individual developer type buyers who could seize the opportunity and attempt to turn the property around."

The original asking price for the mall--determined when Target was believed to be not only staying but also expanding--was $20 million. Faris Lee generated 12 offers for the property.

Instant Insights /

400,000-SF County Fair Mall Fetches $15M

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