Orange County Developer Lands $110M for Retail Portfolio

6725 Washington St. Image via Google Street View

Boardwalk Investments Group has secured $110 million in acquisition financing for a 12-property retail portfolio spread across towns in Orange County, Calif. The portfolio, mostly comprised of Class A, high street retail properties, is located in the coastal areas of Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Yountville and Corona Del Mar.

The financing allowed Boardwalk to acquire two new Class A retail properties in Laguna Beach and Napa, with the rest of the loan going toward refinancing a portion of its portfolio.

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Among the assets within the portfolio are a CVS-anchored shopping center at 30814-30936 Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, a Pavilions-anchored shopping center located at 2902 West Coast Highway in Newport Beach and a fine dining retail property located at 6725 Washington St. in Yountville.

California-based Boardwalk secured the three-year, floating-rate loan with two one-year extension options from H.I.G. Realty Partners. A JLL Capital Markets team of John Chun, John Marshall, Sam Godfrey, Jake Fideler and Michael Mestel represented the borrower in the transaction. Chun said in a statement that his team secured the financing on a tight deadline, after running a competitive bidding process.

Earlier this year, H.I.G. Realty Partners lent developer Vibrant Cities $31.3 million to build Pivot, a mixed-use property rising in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The 71-unit residential property will also include 11,000 square feet of office space, ground-floor retail and an underground parking garage.

OC Retail in Demand

According to a recent report from CBRE, the Orange County retail market is doing well, in the midst of bankruptcies and store closures making headlines around the country.

The brokerage firm’s Q3 report found that junior anchor and smaller floorplans are drawing more investment, while larger floorplans and big-box concepts are falling out of favor. Compressed average cap rates, a deeper buyer pool and a low 10-year treasury rate are fueling demand from retail investors for Orange County retail products.