$91M Seals Downtown Deal

BUENA PARK, CA-A joint venture of Cleveland's Developers Diversified Realty and Coventry Real Estate Advisors of New York has paid $91 million for Buena Park Downtown, a 1.1 million-sf collection of three retail properties that includes Buena Park Mall, Buena Park Place and Park Central Entertainment Center. The buyers acquired the properties from Chicago's Pritzker family, which owned Buena Park Downtown through Pritzker's Chicago-based Sunrise Buena Park LP, according to the Pritzker Group's web site.The Buena Park Mall is a 782,000-sf enclosed mall anchored by Wal-Mart, Sears, Burlington Coat Factory, Ross Dress for Less, Bed Bath & Beyond and DSW Shoe Warehouse; Buena Park Place is a 208,000-sf open-air community center anchored by Kohl's, Circuit City, Office Depot, Michael's and PetsMart; and Park Central Entertainment Center is a 137,000-sf open-air entertainment center anchored by an 18-screen Krikorian Theater and featuring a variety of restaurants and inline retail shops.The buyers get significant frontage along La Palma Avenue, with Buena Park Place located along the north side of the street and Buena Park Mall and Park Central located along the south side. The property is also near one of the Southland's major tourist attractions, Knott's Berry Farm, and about three miles from downtown Anaheim. Developers Diversified and Coventry say that they were attracted to the purchase by the infill nature of the retail venues in an Orange County market with "outstanding demographics and significant barriers to entry.The Buena Park Mall underwent extensive redevelopment beginning in 1998 that included the addition if the Wal-Mart to replace a former tenant, along with the addition of the other major stores. The mall, which is anchored by traditional open-air community center tenants, is 74% occupied. The Buena Park Place property, which was recently redeveloped to include Kohl's, Office Depot, Michael's and PetsMart as new anchor tenants, is approximately 94% occupied. Park Central, which is also newly developed and is 81% occupied, replaced a former freestanding J.C. Penney department store with an 88,000-sf theater, restaurant and retail uses. Developers Diversified's other Southern California holdings include Paseo Colorado in Pasadena and The Pike at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach. Developers Diversified co-invests 20% in each joint venture with Coventry and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the properties.