Excel Trust Acquires La Costa Towne Center

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

The retail-focused REIT Excel Trust has acquired La Costa Towne Centre, a retail shopping center in Carlsbad, for approximately $23.5 million.

Located at 7710-7770 El Camino Real, the property has around 121,000 square feet of gross leasable space and is anchored by Vons, a division of Safeway. Although the lease is in effect, the grocery store no longer occupies the space. Excel Trust released a press statement stating that “the property presents an opportunity to re-tenant and redevelop portions of the center to create additional value.”

According to Marcus & Millichap real estate investment services, San Diego is ranked fourth in 2012 in economic and retail real estate fundamentals. The firm is expecting the San Diego retail sector to outperform other Southern California markets in 2012.

While in 2011 San Diego was outranked only by Washington, D.C., and New York, in 2012—due to weaker employment growth—those markets have been overtaken by San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle. According to Marcus & Millichap, San Diego is expected to have the second lowest retail vacancy rate in the country with 4.2 percent, behind San Francisco at 3.1 percent. The projected national rate is 9.2 percent.

The La Costa Towne Centre is the largest retail sale in the San Diego market so far in 2012. The property was the third acquired this year by Excel Trust, following the purchase of the Promenade Corporate Center in Scottsdale, AZ, on January 23 and the acquisition of EastChase Market Center in Montgomery, AL, on February 17.

Logo Courtesy of: www.exceltrust.com