Faris Lee Investments Completes $12.5 Million Sale of Shoppes at Puente Hills Mall

April 25, 2011 - PRLog -- Faris Lee Investments, the nation’s largest retail investment  advisory firm, has completed the $12.5 million sale of Shoppes at Puente Hills Mall, a 20,174-square-foot retail center located at 17501 Colima Rd. in City of Industry. Built in 2009 and situated on 2.52 acres, the center is an outparcel to the very successful Puente Hills Mall. The property is 87 percent occupied and includes Panera Bread, Chipotle, The Vitamin Shoppe, Wing Stop, T-Mobile, Jamba Juice, and others.  The sale marks a significant sales record by boasting the highest price per square foot (approximately $619.60) obtained for a multi-tenant retail investment property above $5 million in Southern California since 2008 (per CoStar).
   Richard Walter, president, and Shaun Riley, senior managing director, with Faris Lee Investments represented the seller, San Francisco-based Krausz Puente LLC. Andrew Miliotis from Los Angeles-based AIT Realty Corp. represented the buyer, Navus LLC from Los Angeles. Faris Lee received a total of eight offers on the property, the majority of which were Asian investors living in the local market.  The sale closed at a 6.86 percent cap rate.
   “The strong retail location, creditworthiness of the tenants, and pride of ownership construction attracted a heavy amount of Southern California-based investor interest in the Shoppes at Puente Hills Mall offering,” said Riley. “There is a heavy concentration of very motivated, well-capitalized Asian investors who own commercial property in the immediate area – especially along Colima Road.  Our marketing effort was heavily targeted to these potential investors.”
   “Before going to market, we knew the major hurdle to the deal would be financing.  The current lending market is choppy for higher profile properties and appraisals are very erratic,” said Walter. “Although we had eight offers, each offer was initially written subject to a financing contingency. We met and thoroughly qualified each investor and selected the investor with the highest amount of liquid funds and who could close with minimal contingencies.”
   Faris Lee worked directly with the lender’s appraiser to supply the most appropriate lease and sale comparables. The firm’s efforts resulted not only in a full value appraisal, but also enabled the lender to finance the acquisition at the close of escrow.
   The property is adjacent to the 60 Freeway which is traveled on by approximately 214,000 cars per day. It’s also located at the intersection of Azusa Avenue and Colima Road with traffic exceeding 100,000 cars per day. In addition, Shoppes at Puente Hills Mall benefits from a location in a densely populated area with over 365,000 people living within a 5-mile radius, with an average household income of over $85,000 in the immediate market area.
   Faris Lee has had a vast amount of experience and success in selling retail property within the immediate market area. This transaction marks in excess of $322 million in transactions over recent years. The firm executed the nation’s largest TIC deal with a pool of 36 investors raising $56 million in capital to acquire Puente Hills Mall for $140 million. Two years later, under Faris Lee’s advisement, the center sold for $170.1 million realizing a large profit for the seller.

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About Faris Lee Investments
Faris Lee Investments is a leading national real estate advisory firm. The company’s high-level retail investment and financing experts develop forward-thinking strategies for all retail acquisitions and dispositions and guide clients through complex transactions. Cumulatively, the Faris Lee’s leadership has been involved in more than $20 billion of transactions. Faris Lee's senior experts are skilled in disposition and acquisition strategies, 1031 exchanges, asset positioning and valuation, marketing, debt and equity structuring, strategic workout and REO solutions and execution. For more information, please visit www.farislee.com.