Rancho Serra Mesa Shopping Center, San Diego

After attracting offers from numerous local, regional and national firms, court-appointed receiver Douglas Wilson Cos. has sold the Rancho Serra Mesa Shopping Center in San Diego, Calif. for $6.7 million. The buyer of the distressed property was Beverly Hills-based Omninet Capital LLC, a diversified investment firm that focuses on real estate, private equity and venture capital opportunities.

Located on 4.69 acres, the 55,761 sq. ft. shopping center is anchored by a CVS Pharmacy. The occupancy rate at the retail center was 85% when the property sold earlier this month, according to the Douglas Wilson Cos. However, the economic occupancy was 64% because some tenants were unable to meet their rent obligations. Built in 1965, the retail center suffered from a significant amount of deferred maintenance.

“It’s a tremendous value-add opportunity for the buyer,” says Tony O’Neill, a vice president with the San Diego office of Voit Real Estate, which represented the seller. “The recovering retail market will enable it to enhance the center’s value through strategic leasing and repositioning of the asset in a stronger market.”

The Daily Transcript in San Diego reported that the property was owned by R&D Properties (22%), Ralph Burni as trustee of the Ralph Burni Family Trust (66%), and as successor trustee of the Dean Burni Family Trust (12%).

The receivership sale required the buyer, receiver and Voit to work with multiple lien holders and the San Diego County Superior Court in order to close the complex transaction.

“This investment transaction was unique, as there are few distressed retail properties trading in the central San Diego area,” says Mark Caston, a senior vice president with Voit Real Estate.

Based in San Diego, the Douglas Wilson Cos. was founded in 1989 to provide a wide range of specialized business, workout and real estate services to law firms, state and federal courts, corporations, and institutional owners throughout the United States. To date, the company’s receivership services have involved assets valued in excess of $12 billion.