Santa Monica firm buys The Oaks

Acorn Staff Writer


The Oaks Shopping Center in Thousand Oaks

The Oaks Shopping Center in Thousand Oaks

The Macerich Co., one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the United States, has purchased The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks in a multi-million dollar deal that reportedly closed escrow on Monday.


A spokesperson at the mall said the previous management team already has been replaced in its entirety, including former general manager Rebecca Bresson who’s now on vacation.


Macerich officials declined to comment on the sale. The reported asking price for the 90-acre mall was $150 million.


The new owners will inherit leases on about 140 tenants including a United Artists theater and several high-end shops and restaurants, a spokesperson said. The purchase includes all buildings at the shopping center’s Hillcrest Drive location, except those owned and occupied by Macy’s, Robinson’s-May and J.C. Penny Co., the mall’s anchor stores.


The sellers, Trizec Properties of New York, formerly known as TrizecHahn Development Corp., also declined to discuss the transaction, but has told investors that under its ownership The Oaks outperformed most of the top U.S. shopping centers in dollars per square foot by almost 30 percent.


Trizec owned the mall along with the California State Teachers Retirement System pension fund.


According to Gary Wartik, Thousand Oaks economic development manager, the mall generated about $2.3 million in retail sales tax revenue for the city last year.


"In the overall sense, I suspect that the sale will be positive because when ownership changes on occasion they often want to invest additional sum in the property to upgrade it," Wartik said. "It’s not unusual for a company like Macerich to buy a property like that and take the property into the next generation."


Macerich (NYSE: MAC) is a publicly held company based in Santa Monica that operates 50 regional malls and another dozen community shopping centers nationwide.


The acquisition of The Oaks gives Macerich more than 50 million square feet of leasing space in its portfolio.


Wartik said company officials told him several months ago they coveted The Oaks because of its expansion possibilities.


Macy’s and Robinson’s-May each have two locations at the mall, but may want to consolidate their operations into one building apiece. The anchor consolidation would allow new tenants to move in, Wartik said.


"There is continuing demand for medium to higher end retail in Thousand Oaks and there are companies that have expressed interest in coming to The Oaks, but there hasn’t been room."


Expansion of the mall probably would require construction of a new parking structure, Wartik said.


The Oaks Mall opened in 1979 and currently employs more than 800.


Macerich also owns Ventura County’s largest shopping center, the Pacific View Mall in Ventura, and the Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles.




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