Fully Leased Glasshouse Square Sells for $24M

April 27, 2012

The San Diego Daily Transcript


The 101,818-square-foot Glasshouse Square shopping center at 3146-3156 Sports Arena Blvd., San Diego 92110, has been sold for $24 million as the “upleg” portion of a 1031 exchange begun last fall.



The center, at the junction of Rosecrans Street and Sports Arena Boulevard, was purchased by Rosecrans Plaza Kiffmann LLC, an entity controlled by San Diego investor Helmut Kiffmann.


The property had a list price of $25.64 million immediately prior to the sale according to The CoStar Group (Nasdaq: CSGP). 

Kiffmann paid $11,148,000 down and assumed what remained on an original $14.5 million loan made by Wachovia Bank — now held by Wells Fargo Bank (NYSE: WFC) — in July 2004. 

Glasshouse Square — which The Daily Transcript had reported as being a 92,900-square-foot center — last sold for $11.5 million in May 2001. It had previously sold for $10.6 million in November 1998. 

The seller this time (assessor’s parcel 441-600-05) was Glasshouse Square LLC, with Great American Homes Corp. as its manager.   

The buyer was represented by Brian Crepeau, Ken Robak, Robert Phillips and Bo Gibbons, of Pacific Coast Commercial 

The seller was represented by Pete Bethea and Kipp Gstettenbauer, of Cushman & Wakefield.

 

The center originally dates back to 1956. There was an addition in 1958, but the property didn’t undergo a modernization until 1981, when the UA Glasshouse 6 Theater was constructed. 

While the theater complex brought in visitors at the outset, many retailers weren’t benefiting due to a lack of street visibility.  Tenants departed, and the center gained the moniker of “ghosthouse square” by area brokers in the early 1990s.  The center was then effectively turned inside out, and the front of the property was broken into multiple units.   

While the tenants began to return, owners found the multiplex theater didn’t have the draw it had had in the 1980s, and elected to close it in 1999. 

The gamble paid off. The theater was replaced by the Peninsula Athletic Club, which itself was replaced by a Gold’s Gym that is one of the center’s strongest anchors. The center was again renovated in 2003. 

In the meantime, fast food pads were added for In-N-Out Burger and Del Taco.  Major tenants at Glasshouse, now 100 percent leased, also include Staples, Chuck-E-Cheese, Ultrazone, 7-11, Subway, Panda Express, T-Mobile and Sleep Train, among others. 

“People know this property,” Crepeau said. “It’s the gateway to Point Loma and it has strong tenants. There really aren’t any ‘mom and pops’ in there.” 

Escrow services were provided by Renee Marshal, of Chicago Title, and title services were provided by Linda Menashe, also of Chicago Title.  

Assumption of existing debt was coordinated through Pacific Southwest Realty Services. 

Pacific Coast Commercial has also been hired as the property management and leasing agents for the property. 

The other leg of the 1031 exchange happened last November, when a partnership controlled by Kiffmann sold the three-building, 106,500-square-foot Wateridge Summit Property on Wateridge Circle in Sorrento Mesa for $45.6 million. 

The buyer of that property was a unit of Rancho Bernardo-based BioMed Realty Trust (NYSE: BMR), one of the nation’s largest biotechnology property REITs. 

Kiffmann has been an investor in numerous San Diego-area properties over the years. In December 2009 one of his partnerships paid $3.9 million to acquire a 45,120-square-foot industrial building on Yarrow Drive in Carlsbad. 

Kiffmann has led several local entities including Capital Assets LLC, the Kiffmann Family Foundation and Coastal Community Homes. 

Over the last 31 years, Great American Capital and its affiliated companies such as Great American Homes have developed or purchased a combined value of more than $4 billion of real estate in 500 buildings throughout Las Vegas, California and Arizona, according to a company website. 

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