Dealmaker: Sterling Organization Acquires Two Shopping Centers for $39M

Sterling Organization, Palm Beach, Fla., acquired two shopping centers in the Phoenix and Los Angeles metros for $38.9 million. 

In Phoenix the firm purchased grocery-anchored shopping center Union Plaza in an off-market transaction. The 98,700-square-foot center at West Union Hills Drive and North 19th Avenue traded for $15.2 million, which equates to $154 per square foot.

A 56,500-square-foot Fry’s Food & Drug anchors the 1977-vintage property. Other tenants include junior anchor Ace Hardware and Great Clips.

Sterling Senior Managing Director of Investments and Portfolio Management Ed Senenman said the firm liked the submarket’s strong real estate fundamentals and Union Plaza’s location at a highly trafficked intersection with nearly 140,000 people within a three-mile radius.

The property represents Sterling’s second Phoenix-area property. It acquired Palm Valley Marketplace in Goodyear, Ariz., last year.

In Huntington Park, Calif., four miles from downtown Los Angeles, the firm acquired grocery-anchored shopping center Margarita Plaza for $23.75 million or $309 per square foot. The firm purchased the property in an off-market transaction from private investors on behalf of Sterling’s institutional grocery-anchored shopping center core fund, Sterling United Properties I.

A 43,350-square-foot Food 4 Less grocery store anchors the center, which dates to 1989. Other national retailers at the 93 percent occupied property include Little Caesar’s Pizza and Jackson Hewitt Tax Services.

“Margarita Plaza has excellent real estate fundamentals and is situated in a super-dense location with more than 461,000 people within a three-mile radius,” Senenman said.