Commonwealth Real Estate Buys Fresno Retail Asset

Ash Tree Square. Image courtesy of Hanley Investment Group

Oakland, Calif.-based Commonwealth Real Estate has paid $15.8 million for Ash Tree Square, an 80,877-square-foot shopping center in Fresno, Calif., public records show. The firm financed the acquisition with a $11.2 million loan provided by Summit State Bank.

The previous owner was JL Management, which had purchased the asset in 2016 for $13.7 million, according to CommercialEdge data. Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors brokered the current transaction on behalf of the seller.

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The retail asset came online in 1972 and underwent renovations in 2018. Ross Dress for Less anchors the property; Starbucks Drive-Thru, Wing Stop and Mountain Mike’s Pizza are also on the roster. More than 70 percent of tenants have been occupying the property for more than a decade, and many of them have recently extended their leases.

Ash Tree Square. Image courtesy of Hanley Investment Group

Located at 1029-1077 E. Shaw Ave., Ash Tree Square occupies a 7.5-acre lot at one of the busiest intersections in the trade area—the junction of East Shaw Avenue and North First Street, with a daily traffic count exceeding 62,000 vehicles. Some 408,000 permanent residents live within a 5-mile radius.

Ash Tree Square is also adjacent to the 973,000-square-foot Fashion Fair Mall, a recently developed 81-room Hilton hotel and Fresno State University, which is attended by approximately 25,000 students. The mall has more than 7 million visitors annually and features tenants including Apple, Macy’s, Forever 21, Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, Five Below and ULTA Beauty, among others.

Hanley Investment Group Vice Presidents Alexander Moore and Sean Cox, along with Executive Vice President Kevin Fryman, represented the seller.

Retail sector sees sluggish absorption, historic low availability

According to CBRE research, the retail space absorption rate experienced a significant slowdown in the first quarter of this year, amounting to 8.6 million square feet compared to 31.5 million square feet during the same period in 2022.

However, the sector has managed to maintain a positive trend for the 10th consecutive quarter. The demand for newly constructed centers remains strong, particularly in the power center and neighborhood, community and strip center categories.

During the first quarter, the national average retail availability dropped to a historic low of 4.8 percent, reflecting a decrease of 50 basis points compared to the previous year. This represents the lowest level recorded since 2005, when CBRE first started monitoring the market.