$111M Wins Burbank Center

Pan Pacific acquired the regional mall with its purchase of Center Trust Inc., which was completed Jan. 17. It is selling the mall in what Stuart Tanz, Pan Pacific's president and CEO, describes as a disposition of non-core assets.

For Crown Realty, the acquisition is part of a plan to increase the company's investment in Burbank, according to Jaime Sohacheski, chairman of Crown. He says Crown is under way on a five-year Burbank investment program through which it has already acquired more than 70 acres and 1.8 million sf of property in the city.

Sohacheski says Crown plans a "significant repositioning" of Media City Center, which features a number of large national retailers in a location close to freeways and near some new developments in Burbank.

Media City Center includes a 799,636-sf, three-level enclosed shopping mall and 442,731 sf of freestanding, perimeter shopping space along the Golden State (Interstate 5) Freeway between Magnolia Street and East Burbank Boulevard. The enclosed mall's retailers include Macy's, Sears, Mervyn's, Sports Chalet, AMC Theaters and GAP. The freestanding perimeter stores include IKEA, Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, Office Depot, California Pizza Kitchen and Virgin Megastore.

The Media City Center is about 92% occupied, according to Reza Etedali of Sperry Van Ness, who represented Pan Pacific. Etedali tells GlobeSt.com that 20 prospective buyers made offers on the property.

Privately held Crown Realty & Development and its affiliates own a portfolio valued at more than $380 million, focusing primarily on Southern California assets. The portfolio includes more than three million sf of office and retail projects in Burbank, West Los Angeles and Orange County.

Pan Pacific is a publicly held REIT that owns 136 properties totaling about 23.4 million sf of retail space in five Western US markets: Northern California, Southern California, Washington, Oregon and Nevada.