Power Center Commands $52M

WOODLAND HILLS, CA-A portfolio managed by UBS Realty Investors LLC has acquired the 160,075-sf Warner Marketplace from Bisno Development of Century City, according to Transwestern Multi Housing Capital Advisors. The property occupies a 10.35-acre site at one of the highest-traffic areas of the San Fernando Valley, at 6500 Canoga Ave., just north of the Warner Center business park.The Warner Marketplace center is anchored by a group of national retailers, including Bed Bath & Beyond, Borders Books and Pier 1 Imports. The buyer and the seller were both represented by Curtis Palmer, Herb Chase and Alex Quintana of Transwestern, and by Mike Ross and Camilo Fabros of Colliers International.Palmer says the purchase of the property by an institutional buyer underscores the appeal of retail properties in Southern California to institutional investors like UBS, especially when the asset occupies a location like that of Warner Marketplace.The Warner Marketplace sale comes at the same time as another retail center closing, the purchase of the 53,692-sf Shangri-LA shopping center at 18635 Soledad Canyon Rd. in Santa Clarita. Woodland Hills-based Rancho Shangri-LA Investors LLC bought the property from Shangri-LA Investors LLC of Los Angeles for $16.5 million, according to Chris Jackson and John Cserkuti of the North Los Angeles office of Grubb & Ellis.Jackson and Cserkuti represented the buyer and the seller, which had acquired the property for $11.2 million in 2002 in a deal brokered by Jackson. The four-year-old center, which was 98% leased at the time of the sale, is occupied by Wendy's, IHOP and Time Warner. The new owner has named Cserkuti and Bert Abel, also of Grubb & Ellis' North Los Angeles office, as leasing agents for the property.