Hanley principal Ed Hanley tells GlobeSt.com the center is generating a lot of interest in part because of its new grocery anchor, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, a new US chain by UK-based Tesco that is preparing to open its first stores. Britain's largest retailer will be investing $400 million per year to expand the concept throughout the US over the next five years. Fresh & Easy will open at the Warm Springs Plaza in October, making it the first Tesco-anchored retail center to come to market.

"With Tesco being a new tenant to the retail community, there's a lot of buzz about it," says Hanley, who has received 10 offers for the property but won't be accepting any offers until after the store opens.

Covering 6.33 acres at the southeast corner of Warm Springs Road and Eastern Avenue, where 100,000 cars pass daily, Warm Springs Plaza has heretofore been anchored by furniture tenants. Woodland Hills, CA-based Toibb, which came to own the asset 10 years ago by way of foreclosure, is selling now because the new grocery anchor has added substantial value to the asset, Hanley says.

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