MURRIETA, CA-Investment and development firm Merlone Geier Partners has acquired notes secured by Village Walk Plaza, a 314,091-square-foot center here that is 80% leased. The deal is one of the largest transactions in the region involving the sale of notes secured by a retail property, according to senior managing director Ryan Gallagher of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler. Gallagher was part of an HFF team representing the seller that also included directors Bryan Ley, Kelly Rohfeld and John Crump.

HFF exclusively marketed the notes on the property on behalf of the seller, a national banking entity. Merlone Geier Partners purchased the notes for an undisclosed amount.

Village Walk Plaza is situated on 34 acres at the intersection of Kalmia Street and the main retail corridor of Madison Avenue, with more than one-quarter mile of frontage along the Interstate 15 Freeway. Completed in 2008, the center is leased to a host of national tenants including Sports Authority, Bed Bath & Beyond, Babies “R” Us, Office Depot, PETCO, BevMo, Guitar Center and a growing regional tenant, Jerome’s Furniture.

Merlone is a private real estate investment firm focused on the acquisition, development and redevelopment of retail and mixed-use properties in California and other western states. MGP and its predecessor entity, M&H Realty Partners, have been investing in retail property in California since 1994. The firm has raised $1.6 billion of discretionary equity capital over the past 15 years and most recently closed on its ninth fund.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler also brokered the sale of one of the largest REO properties on the market in Southern California last year, the $95 million sale of the 388,000-square-foot Shoppes at Chino Hills retail center in Chino Hills. In that deal, a team of HFF and CB Richard Ellis brokers marketed the property on behalf of a bank consortium group led by Bank of America. Gallagher led the team that marketed the property, which included Rohfeld, Ley and Crump as well as CBRE's Carol Schillne, Greg Whitney and Scott Kaplan.