RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA-The $507 per sf that a 1031 exchange buyer paid for an $8.1 million shopping center represents one of the top prices paid for a retail center in the Inland Empire trade area, broker Faris Lee reports. The property is the Shops at RanchoCucamonga Town Square, a 15,472-sf center at 10399Foothill Blvd.

The seller of the center was San Clemente-based Zion Enterprises Inc., which was represented by Patrick Kent and Shaun Riley of Irvine-based Faris Lee. The buyer was represented by Fred Etaat ofPacific Integrated Capital.

The Faris Lee brokers report that escrow closed in 50 days, some10 days shy of the 1031 buyer's 60-day requirement. Built in 2005, Shops at Rancho Cucamonga Town Square is 100% occupied by Active Ride, Golf Etc., Platos Closet and Rancho Beauty.

Although fully leased, the property presented a challenge, according to Faris Lee, because of its non-investment grade tenant roster, as well as the center's secondary retail location on an intersection lacking traffic signals. Shaun Riley, director of the investment advisory group at Faris Lee, says that a selling point that helped seal the deal was that "the potential upside of the center's lease rates in this rapidly growing region.