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2/02/16
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Merlone Geier Partners has purchased El Monte Shopping and Automotive Center, a 473.3k sf auto and retail center in the San Gabriel Valley city of El Monte, for $84.5 mil, or $179/sf.
The property sale is unique in that it combines a traditional promotional shopping center with Longo Lexus, the highest volume Lexus dealership in the Western United States. Longo, part of the Penske Motor Group, the second largest auto group in the county, has premier freeway signage off of the I-10 Fwy, with more than 200,000 cars passing per day.
The property was sold by Decron Properties. After acquiring the struggling shopping center in 1988 for $30.3 mil, Decron undertook a multimillion dollar capital improvement program to reposition the property, focusing on the unique automotive aspect of the center. The repositioning included adding 25k sf of retail space which brought in Staples, Union Bank and Jamba Juice. Approximately 27,000 cars are sold annually at the combined Lexus & Toyota dealership.
“We saw a real opportunity to enable Longo to expand its dealership and auto service and collision center,” said David Nagel, CEO of Decron Properties. “Not only has this helped facilitate the growth of Longo into the premier car dealership it is today. It has helped drive traffic to the center, which now draws auto users from all over the San Gabriel Valley, making the City of El Monte and this center a true destination center for shoppers and auto buyers.”
Savills-Studley Retail Investment Group represented Decron Properties in the deal. The buyer represented itself.
“This was an extremely rare opportunity to acquire a high quality Southern California asset,” said William Bauman, Executive Vice President, with Savills-Studley. “As a result, the asset attracted numerous, competitive offers due to the infill nature of the location and attractiveness of the stable income stream from Longo.”
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