ONTARIO, CA—3M Co. has sold a 270,890-square-foot industrial building and 42 acres of land here to an unnamed buyer for $31.9 million. As part of the transaction, the firm signed a 10-year lease on a 454,877-square-foot distribution facility soon to be constructed on a nearby vacant parcel. 3M's Doyle Shea led the project team for the sale and subsequent lease, represented by Cresa Phoenix advisors Gary Gregg, Mike Gordon, Ashley Snyder and Eric Walker. Sam Foster of JLL also participated in the transaction, and David Nazaryk of the Trammell Crow Co. will handle development of the new distribution facility, which breaks ground July 22 and is expected to be delivered on May 1, 2015.

SAN DIEGO—Locally based Trigild, as court-appointed liquidating trustee, has completed the sales of 37 strip centers and two single-story offices totaling 600,000 square feet for more than $42 million. The properties—located in 33 cities in states including Iowa, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Indiana—were owned by developer Coldwater Portfolio Partners LLC. Trigild took the portfolio to market in February 2014. Five buyers were involved in five separate transactions, with the overall sales prices representing a 21% improvement over the initial bid considered in the borrower's proposed bankruptcy plan. The firm worked with Houston -based brokerage firm Allied Advisors on the dispositions. The buyers included Michigan-based Schostak Brothers, a retail-focused investment/development group which acquired 23 properties in 16 states; Indiana-based Great Lakes Capital, which acquired 11 properties across Indiana and Michigan; and Jared Enterprises, which acquired two properties in Missouri. At the time of the sale the portfolio, with properties ranging from 9,000 to 37,000 square feet, was 75% leased. Most are shadow anchored by a Walmart Super Store and include such tenants as Dollar Tree, GameStop and Radio Shack.  Coldwater had tapped Trigild to take over day-to-day operations—including lease administration and maintenanc eoperations—in June of 2013.

INDIO, CA—Wells Fargo Bank has sold approximately 100 acres of land at 42nd Ave. and Monroe St., adjacent to the I-10 here, for $8.8 million to BH Properties LLC, a Los Angeles-based commercial real estate investment firm. This is BH's first land purchase, and it is considering the right development for the area. Wells Fargo Bank was represented by Curtis Barlow of Coldwell Banker Commercial/Lyle & Associates and Tom Olson of Douglas Wilson Co. 

LOS ANGELES—A private investor from San Francisco has sold the Shops at Library Court, located at 630 W. 6^th St. here, for $6.95 million to a private investor from Arcadia, CA. Hanley Investment Group's SVP Eric P. Wohl, along with HI Urban Retail Advisors' president Carlos J. Lopez, represented the buyer and seller in the sale. The property consists of 9,903 square feet of retail units beneath 90 luxury loft condominiums in Downtown L.A.'s Financial District. The property was 100% occupied at the close of escrow and includes Ocho Mexican Grill, Loose Leaf, Subway, Mitaki, Library Bar and Sixth Street Tavern.

DEVELOPMENT

HOLLIDAY, UT--The Howard Hughes Corp. and Smith's Food & Drug are planning to develop a 78,000-square-foot food-and-drug store in the 57-acre mixed-use Cottonwood development 8 miles from downtown Salt Lake City here, the first pedestrian-friendly environment in the affluent community. The development will include upscale shopping, dining, entertainment and offices in a “town square”-style setting, as well as multifamily residences, when complete. Smith's has signed a letter of intent to build a combination food and drug store that will offer a wide selection of prepared and specialty foods; organic food selections; bakery, pharmacy, dairy and floral; as well as fresh meat and seafood. The new store will feature a multi-level parking structure.“We are looking forward to building a store in Holladay City within the dynamic Cottonwood development and offering the Smith's shopping experience to both Cottonwood residents and the surrounding communities” Transforming the former Cottonwood Mall, the redevelopment will include approximately 620,000 square feet of retail and entertainment, 260,000 square feet of office and approximately 600 residences.

LEASES

COSTA MESA, CA—Subaru of America has signed an 8,701-square-foot lease at Plaza Tower here for its new West Coast corporate operations. Cushman & Wakefield's Rick Kaplan, Robert Lambert and Matt Moore represented Plaza Tower in the transaction, while he tenant was represented by Garrett Ellis of CBRE. Subaru plans to occupy the space by September. Plaza Tower is a 21-story, class-A office building designed by architect Cesar Pelli.

ENCINITAS, CA—Electra Bicycle Co. has relocated its headquarters from Vista, CA, to 10,398 square feet of creative-office space at 1010 Coast Hwy. here. Greg Pieratt of Lee & Associates San Diego North County represented Electra, negotiating the nine-year lease. Also, Pieratt, with colleague Alex Weiss, negotiated the sublease of the 38,818-square-foot former Electra headquarters in 30 days to Hruby Orbital, which was represented by Russ Jabara of Colliers International. The combined transaction volume was $4,550 million.

FREMONT, CA—A new Fremont Certified Farmers' Market has opened here at the Pacific Commons Shopping Center, behind DSW and Nordstrom Rack, via an agreement with West Coast Farmers Market Association in association with Vestar. The market will take place every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through November.  It will feature more than 25 stalls featuring fresh fruits and vegetables and some hand-crafted prepared foods. Pacific Commons is currently 98% leased to several national tenants including Kohl's, Lowe's, Costco, Nordstrom Rack, Babies R' Us/Toys R' US and TJ Maxx/HomeGoods.

FINANCING

OLYMPIA, WA—Meridian Capital Group LLC's SVP Marvin Jeremias has arranged a $23.5-million mortgage for the refinance of the Woodland Apartments multifamily property at 800 Yauger Way here on behalf of an undisclosed borrower. The 10-year loan, provided by Rialto Capital Management LLC, features a competitive fixed-rate of 4.83% and five years of interest-only payments followed by a 30-year amortization schedule. The 224-unit property located was built in 2012 and was fully leased by August 2013.

LAGUNA HILLS, CA—JCR Capital Investment Corp. has closed a $10-million bridge loan for the acquisition of a three-building, 85,000-square-foot complex here that was originally built in 1979 and renovated in 2008. The sponsor intends to implement a comprehensive value-add lease-up and capital-improvement strategy to reposition and stabilize the property over a three- to four-year time frame. The loan facilitated the acquisition of the property and was also structured to fund future capital improvements as well as “good news” money. CBRE's Newport Beach office advised the sponsorship on the financing.  

EXECUTIVE MOVES

IRVINE, CA—MVE & Partners has hired Daniel Gura as director of business development and has re-hired senior associate partner Luis Arambula. Gura has more than a decade of experience in business development, real estate, and law, working for firms in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas markets, and he has a strong knowledge of multifamily and hospitality development. Arambula began his career with MVE in 1998 and has recently focused on student housing, university and K-12 work, gaining understanding of the public and private sectors. He has extensive experience in most product types, including high-rise residential, multifamily, mixed-use projects and entertainment complexes.

LAS VEGAS—Institutional Property Advisors has hired David Baird to its team of senior advisors. With over 32 years of commercial real estate experience, Baird has completed more than 300 transactions valued at over $2 billion, and has been a top producer for the past seven years.

AWARDS

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—Uptown Newport, a walkable urban village being developed here by Shopoff Realty Investments, was honored at last month's Gold Nugget Awards ceremony at PCBC in San Francisco. The mixed-use retail and residential project near John Wayne Airport received a merit award in the category for Best On the Boards Site Plan. When completed, Uptown Newport will transform a pair of aging industrial buildings on 25 acres into a vibrant urban village featuring 1,244 luxury homes, numerous retail shops, two 1-acre parks, plazas, fountains and public paseos. MVE & Partners designed the plans and architectural guidelines for the project, and Shopoff is serving as its master developer, having begun the demolition work to deliver the site improvements to the phase I builders.