YUMA, AZ-Southgate Mall LLC, an affiliate of CCA Acquisition Co. and Kornwasser Shopping Center Properties, acquired the 208,976-square-foot Southgate Mall from MidFirst Bank. The buyer paid $4.12 million for the REO property.

On the plus side for the buyer, the mall at 32^nd St. and Fourth Avenue offers good upside, as it's the only enclosed mall in the area. Furthermore, occupancy is at 62%, allowing for the opportunity to attract new tenants. “Southgate Mall was a classic value-add opportunity,” comments Steve Brabant with CBRE's Phoenix office in a prepared statement. Brabant and CBRE's Bob Young, Glenn Smigiel, Rick Abraham and Nancy Romanovsky worked with A.T. Pancrazi Real Estate Services in Yuma to represent the seller in the transaction.

“The property's location coupled with its large parcel size provides the buyer with a real opportunity to creatively reposition the property," Brabant adds. "Plus, there is added cash flow potential from adding new tenants and signing existing tenants to longer leases.”

But according to a local media report, Southgate Mall was built in 1973 (adjacent to a Sears tore that opened in 1968). Since its opening, the mall has had a series of owners including Downey Savings and Loan Association, which sold the asset in 1979 to a group of investors. Those investors sold the property to Southgate Mall Enterprises just three years later, and two years after that, was acquired by Home Federal Savings and Loan Association through foreclosure.

The following year, the property was sold to Yuma Mall Associates – in 1988, Melvin Simon & Associates took ownership, with plans to expand the property. The expansion never happened and rival Yuma Palms Regional Center opened in 2004, taking much of Southgate Mall's foot traffic. In 2005, Hispanic Retail Group Yuma THS, an affiliate of Forest City Commercial Development, purchased the property – and five years later, MidFirst Bank acquired the title through a deed in lieu of foreclosure.