The Central Valley Marketplace shopping center, located on the northwest corner of Mitchell and Hatch, was recently sold to an Ohio investment trust.
Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT II, Inc. announced on Monday that it had purchased the 81,897 square foot shopping center in Ceres from Palo Alto Bayshore Investors for $21 million.
The shopping center is currently 100 percent leased to 15 tenants and anchored by Food 4 Less, which occupies 59,809 rentable square feet of the 81,897 square feet. The center also features national tenants Starbucks, Game Stop, Panda Express and Wing Stop.
Phillips Edison is a public non-traded real estate investment trust that acquires and manage grocery-anchored neighborhood shopping centers having a mix of national and regional retailers throughout the United States. As of Monday, the company owned and managed 33 grocery-anchored shopping centers totaling 3.5 million square feet.
Ceres Economic Development Manager Steve Hallam said the sale of the property was a surprise, but the Central Valley Marketplace is one of the city's most successful shopping centers.
Based on the current condition of the property, the company’s management stated it does not believe that it will be necessary to make any significant renovations or improvements.
While the CV Marketplace was not on the city's "radar screen as a center of interest," according to Hallam, Ceres has seen a lot more investment interest since the city updated its census numbers and found that the average annual income of residents exceeded the $50,000 mark — something that national retailers look for when moving into a community.
The City has been making efforts to reach out to national retailers. Hallam said last year he sent emails to about 11 national retailers after the Hatch Road Staples closed in an attempt to recruit a business to fill the space.
In June, national retailer Ross announced it would be moving into the old Staples location.
The City of Ceres has also been investing in infrastructure projects to entice new developments.
In April 2014, the City Council voted to allocate $15.3 million in bond proceeds from the now defunct Ceres Redevelopment Agency on a number of projects including $2 million for roadway improvements to make the Service/Mitchell intersection more shovel-ready for commercial development.
"We're pretty excited to see all these changes that the city prompted with the investment," said Hallam.
