SAN DIEGO, CA—Flocke & Avoyer Commercial Real Estate closed a complex transaction on behalf of Gatlin Development Company and its affiliates involving the sale of a San Diego-area nine-property retail portfolio for $183.25 million. The properties were acquired by Angelo Gordon Real Estate, Inc. and its partner and managing member, Citivest Commercial. The seller, hired Flocke & Avoyer to exclusively market the retail portfolio.

The portfolio, built from 1995-2004, has a combined net rentable area of approx. 523,123 SF of retail space and are generally regarded as the dominant centers within their respective trade areas.

“The sale of this irreplaceable San Diego retail portfolio further validates the tremendous and continuing interest in prime San Diego real estate from the global investment community,” said Steve Avoyer, president of Flocke & Avoyer. “Frank Gatlin, founder of Gatlin Development, built all of these noteworthy centers using his long term successful relationship with Walmart as a start and then combining his uncanny ability to source deals and solve problems to get the centers entitled and operational.  The portfolio represents some of the best retail real estate the County has to offer and we feel honored that Frank put his trust in us to market and sell them.”

Stewart Keith, senior VP at Flocke & Avoyer added: “Ranging in size from 3,600 SF to 312,000 SF, the marketing of the Gatlin portfolio created a unique challenge to identify a buyer, or buyers, for any combination of the nine properties.  The strong historical occupancy and tremendous tenant mix were instrumental in attracting a buyer who persevered through a difficult loan assumption process because of their appreciation for the dominance and high quality of the assets. We look forward to continuing our 15 year association with these properties by working with the buyer on the leasing of these dominant centers.”

Center Name                                SF in Sale  Total GLA in Center

East County Square                     28,500         241,534

East County Village                    12,301        12,301

EastLake Terraces                        61,012         362,289

Eastlake Village Center East      16,800        117,778

Pacific Coast Plaza                    312,313         447,228

Palm Promenade                          32,200        617,000

Southbay Marketplace                   8,632       220,519

Stonecrest Plaza                             7,615         469,462

Town Center North                       43,750        353,657

Totals                                        523,123   2,841,768

“It is with mixed emotions that I have sold my entire San Diego Shopping Center portfolio to focus on developing quality retail projects closer to my new home in Florida,” Gatlin said. “I've taken great pride in developing some of the best shopping centers in all of San Diego County and have enjoyed working with all those at Angelo Gordon and Citivest during this complex process involving 9 properties and 3 loan assumptions. We will certainly miss the great relationships we have built with all the tenants, vendors and Flocke & Avoyer over the past 20 years. It is these types of relationships that are invaluable and are the key to success as a developer.”

“This is Citivest Commercial's largest transaction to date,” said Larry Weese, President of Citivest Commercial.  “We are proud to be owners of such high quality assets in their respective San Diego communities. Our firm has the bandwidth and skill sets to enhance each asset, where needed, and we are looking forward to a very bright future owning these centers. Our thanks go out to Frank Gatlin and his staff for making the transfer of ownership seamless and to the capable brokers at Flocke & Avoyer for helping navigate the transaction.”

Stephen Avoyer, Stewart Keith, Brad Williams and Tommy Gibbs of Flocke & Avoyer Commercial Real Estate represented the seller.  The buyer represented itself.  Escrow and title services were handled by First American Title Company.