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A portfolio of nine properties at Yorba Linda Town Center changed hands for nearly $56 million, one of the largest retail deals of the year.
Newport Beach-based real estate developer Manouch Moshayedi told the Business Journal that his company bought the Yorba Linda retail center from Anaheim-based Zelman Development Co. in mid-March.
Moshayedi’s Newport Beach-based Mx3 Ventures paid $55.7 million for the 119,684-square-foot retail and office center, or $465.55 per square feet.
The real estate executive said his company does not have any immediate plans to upgrade Yorba Linda Town Center.
The shopping center’s portfolio includes tenants like Edwards Cinemas, Bristol Farms, San Diego County Credit Union, Blaze Pizza, Café Rio, The Habit Burger Grill and First Bank.
Moshayedi said anchor tenants such as Edwards Cinemas and the specialty grocer Bristol Farms, plus the portfolio’s proximity to residential neighborhoods and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, made the center an ideal investment.
The most expensive property of the portfolio is 18431 Yorba Linda Blvd., a 49,500-square-foot building that houses Edwards Cinemas. The retail building sold for $20.4 million, or $412 per square feet.
A freestanding building housing Bristol Farms at the northeast corner of Imperial Highway and Yorba Linda Boulevard was priced at $14.6 million, or $553 per square feet, according to CoStar.
The rest of the portfolio ranged in price from $1.9 million to $4.8 million per property, per CoStar.
Mx3 Ventures is a real estate investment company that buys, develops and manages commercial and residential properties.
Moshayedi is one of Orange County’s best-known tech entrepreneurs. He co-founded Irvine-based STEC Inc., a computer storage device company, with his brother Mark in 1990. The Moshayedi family later expanded into real estate with purchases of The Village in Corona del Mar and several properties along Newport Beach’s Mariner’s Mile.
Orange County’s Retail Market
The $56 million purchase of Yorba Linda Town Center was larger than any retail transaction during the fourth quarter of 2024 and is already a leading candidate for the most expensive deal for a shopping center portfolio in 2025.
Earlier this year, giant asset manager Blackstone Inc. became the owner of several Orange County shopping centers after completing its acquisition of San Diego-based Retail Opportunity Investments Corp., the largest real estate investment trust for grocery-anchored shopping centers on the West Coast.
The $4 billion deal included 93 retail properties totaling 10.5 million square feet in Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Southern California. Only eight of those properties, spread across 32 transactions, were in Southern California.
Blackstone and Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. declined to reveal the individual sale price of each Orange County shopping center.
The 88,413-square-foot Plaza Empresa in Rancho Santa Margarita sold for $42.9 million late last year, according to CBRE.
Investment sales for retail properties in Orange County fell 13% to $164.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2024, down from $188.4 million for the same period in 2023, according to CBRE.