Brookfield’s $530M SoCal Retail Deal Breaks Multi-Year Record

A joint venture of Redwood West, Panattoni, Prime Finance and Prism Places has paid $530 million for Victoria Gardens, a 1.2 million-square-foot retail asset in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., within the Inland Empire. An Ares Real Estate fund provided the acquisition financing.

Brookfield Properties sold the property. The firm partnered with Queensland Investment Corp. for this disposition, which closed less than two weeks after the duo had placed Victoria Gardens on the market, Bisnow reported.

Eastdil Secured, which recently commanded $1.1 billion, brokered the sale, according to reports by Commercial Observer. This retail deal is also among the largest ever recorded in Southern California, second only to the $538 million sale of The Shops at Santa Anita in 2022.

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Victoria Gardens is the fifth-busiest open-air lifestyle center in the U.S., with more than 15 million visitors annually. Upon closing, the property was 98 percent leased to more than 160 tenants, including Apple, Lululemon, Chanel, Gorjana, Sephora, Nike and Zara, among other companies.

The new ownership plans to build on that foundation and strengthen the retail experience, according to a company statement. To that end, $50 million was earmarked for capital improvements, including upgrades to landscaping, signage and common areas.

The property is located at 12600 N. Main St., 4 miles from downtown Rancho Cucamonga, a city with an average household income of $138,000, which is already 22 percent higher than the U.S. figure and slated for a 9 percent growth over a five-year window.

What’s more, the town’s cost of living is moderate when compared to other nearby coastal cities, allowing for disposable incomes 10 percent higher than the Los Angeles County average. This may nudge up the retail sales of Victoria Garden, which already averaged more than $1,100 per square foot at closing.  

Brookfield’s SoCal retail disposition efforts ramp up

Brookfield’s recent deals across Southern California include the disposition of the 727,000-square-foot retail portion of a larger 1.1 million-square-foot retail center north of San Diego. Steerpoint Capital and Steelwave paid $71.5 million for the asset in September.

Just three months later, Brookfield looked to sell another retail property, this time in downtown Los Angeles. Dubbed FIGat7th, the 330,000-square-foot property could trade for $70 million, The Real Deal reported.