Retail Bidding War Spikes Price to $35M Plus

The Los Angeles-based buyer beat out two others in a high-bid competition that wrangled a contract within a month of the 5500 Greenville Ave. asset coming to market, Joe Dykstra, Westwood Financial's executive vice president, tells GlobeSt.com. He says Westwood's ability for a quick close with hard cash won over the Dallas-based selling partnership of Lincoln Property Co. and the Caruth family. The deed changed hands within 60 days, giving the selective buyer what he considers a unique and one-of-a-kind property in Dallas/Fort Worth.

The fully leased, class A center takes up nearly a full block on the northeast corner of Greenville Avenue and Lovers Lane intersection. Dallas Central Appraisal District assesses the center at nearly $18.4 million.

Dykstra says Old Town's purchase appeal is a location where there's little land for development and build-out is dense. The sweet spot is the center is considered by most to be the dominant open-air center in North Dallas. Tenants, committed for the long term, include Cost Plus World Market, Michaels, Borders Books & Music and a Tom Thumb flagship store. Opening soon will be a PetsMart. Lincoln Property, which acquired the center in 1983, will continue to lease and manage the property as it has since it opened in 1974.

Dykstra says the acquisition ends Westwood's shopping in Dallas/Fort Worth for awhile since he feels he's cherry-picked the cream of the crop from the marketplace. In late December 2003, the investment buyer spent $21.6 million for the 135,000-sf Las Colinas Plaza, also anchored by a Tom Thumb flagship store. "Westwood Financial generally buys uniquely valuable property and that means core real estate, infill and supply constrained. When you talk that kind of product, there's not a lot of real estate in any one city that meets those requirements," he says of a strategy that comes with a 10- to 20-year hold.