New Walgreens Trades for Nearly $9M

Nonetheless, the property was only on the market for 30 days before it sold, and it generated seven offers. Vaccaro explains that Faris Lee's marketing strategy was to focus on the property's irreplaceable location within a key retail trade area offering a dense, high-income population as well as high barriers to entry for additional development in the master-planned community of Aliso Viejo. The marketing strategy pointed out that the City of Aliso Viejo's master plan strictly limits additional commercial development, therefore creating a stronger overall retail environment for the existing tenants.

Vaccaro represented Dana Point-based Aliso Commons Corner LLC, the seller of the property, which is adjacent to a Lowe's and is situated on 1.76 acres at the northwest corner of Aliso Creek Road and Enterprise in Aliso Viejo. The buyer was Laguna Beach-based Zamindari Real Estate Investment Two LLC, which was represented by Anil Sharma of Lotus Investments.

Another selling point of the property, according to Vaccaro, is that the Aliso Viejo Town Center was designed and developed to be the primary shopping destination for the residents of Aliso Viejo and surrounding communities by offering big-box, grocery, lifestyle, entertainment, restaurant and shop components. One of the most dominant retail developments in Orange County, it is a 300-acre center that is anchored by a 20-screen Edward's Stadium Theatre, Ralphs Fresh Fare, TJ Maxx, PetsMart, Barnes & Noble and Pier 1 Imports. The center is surrounded by a population of 285,000 with an annual average household income of $105,000 within a five-mile radius.

Overall, Aliso Viejo's retail vacancy has remained extremely low at approximately 2%, compared with a retail vacancy of 7% in South Orange County, Vaccaro notes. He adds that the retail market in South Orange County, and Aliso Viejo in particula,r is doing better than most surrounding markets because it was not overdeveloped.