The Mosaic shopping center, a six-building retail mall spanning multiple city blocks in downtown Long Beach, has sold for $30 million, the deal’s brokers announced.
The buyer, identified only as Mosaic Promenade Holdings LLC, purchased the 148,405-square-foot complex late last month following a year-long sale process that drew 14 offers from private investors.
The deal includes six parcels that total 4.8 acres at 50 East 4th Street, 145 East 4th Street, 300 and 325 The Promenade North, and 480 and 590 Pine Avenue that have recently been home to Ross Dress for Less, Studio One Eleven/RDC, Ammatoli, Pacific Dental, Panda Express, Wingstop, GNC, GameStop and a U.S. Army recruiting office. A May 22 assessment by the Los Angeles County Assessor’s office valued the six properties at a combined $28.6 million, including $8.9 million attributed to improvements.
It’s the first time the buildings have changed hands since the previous ownership group, a triad made up of Monument Square Investment Group, Turnbridge Equities and Waterford Property Co., bought them as part of a $73.7 million deal in 2005. The buildings were constructed between 2002 and 2004 as part of the original City Place Long Beach mall.
CBRE, which represented the previous owners as its leasing agent, said the sellers had already completed some exterior improvements and operational upgrades ahead of the sale, though the cost and timing of that work were not disclosed. The deal closed at the end of June.
In a release, CBRE said the sale reflects an appetite for the downtown’s retail spaces, referencing the $50 million deal for The Pike shopping center last month. At the time of sale, the Mosaic buildings were 78% occupied.
“Mosaic’s scale, location and pricing attracted strong interest from private capital investors seeking urban retail opportunities in coastal Southern California,” John Read, a CBRE senior vice president, said in a statement.
The deal is the latest development around the former City Place mall, which has over the years slowly been split up, torn down and set for rebuild in different, mixed-use projects.
In February, developers broke ground on a $150 million project to build an eight-story, 272-unit apartment complex at 450 Promenade North. JPI, a Dallas-based investment group leading the project, said it plans to eventually build 900 apartments (including 16 affordable units) and 50 storefronts there in a three-phase plan.
Across the street, at the site of the former Walmart shopping center, the sellers of the Mosaic retail portfolio have been approved to build a 628-unit apartment tower with about 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The sellers of the Mosaic retail portfolio are retaining that parcel for future development, according to the CBRE spokesperson Kimberley Hoidal, with no construction timeline yet announced.