GMAC Venture Commits $245M for Bella Terra Center Buy

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA-A venture of GMAC Institutional Advisors and San Jose-based DJM Capital Partners has acquired the 777,000-sf Bella Terra shopping center from the L.A.-based J.H. Snyder Co. and the Ezralow Co. of Calabasas. GMAC says an affiliate will invest up to $40 million of equity in the deal and GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. will provide debt financing of up to $205 million for the property, which was known for many years as the Huntington Beach Mall before a Snyder-Ezralow joint venture began a $170-million rehab of the property and renamed it Bella Terra in 2004.Bella Terra, which occupies a 63-acre site adjacent to the San Diego Freeway at Edinger Drive and Beach Boulevard, was originally developed in the 1960s. The repositioning, still under way, will convert the venue to an open-air retail center that includes several eateries, retailers, an outdoor amphitheater and a multiplex movie theater. Robert Fabiszewski, EVP and managing director of equity real estate for GMAC Institutional Advisors, says the firm plans to "warehouse the asset and to participate the investment to investor clients in the future."The funding from GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. included permanent and mezzanine financing that was arranged by SVP Mitchell Thurston and VP Andrew Ahlers of the San Francisco loan origination office, along with VP Mark Plenge, of the San Jose loan origination office. DJM Acquisition Group, an affiliate of DJM Capital Partners, Inc. received the funding.

Bella Terra marks the sixth credit-anchored retail project acquired by DJM in Southern California since mid-2003. The property is anchored by Kohl's, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Century Theaters, Circuit City, REI, Cost Plus, Mervyn's and Staples.The financing of the transaction was managed for DJM by Eric Sahn, a DJM principal, who notes that the deal was the firm's first institutional partnership. Another DJM principal, Lindsay Parton, says that purchasing the property while construction is still under way "added a level of complexity that most prospective purchasers couldn't handle."According to a previous GlobeSt.com report, the renovation and repositioning of the retail center will incorporate some of the old structures and add new buildings to make connections between the existing anchor stores and the new theatres and restaurants. Bella Terra will be served by a six-story, 1,540-space parking structure in addition to surface parking.