A retail property located at 1601 S. Melrose Dr. in Vista, California has hit the market. The Melrose Village Plaza is a high-performing, institutional quality neighborhood shopping center anchored by Albertsons and CVS Pharmacy, and it presents a rare opportunity to acquire a value-add grocery and drug-anchored shopping center within an affluent Southern California submarket. The 136,672-square-foot property is situated in the densely populated North San Diego County community of Vista, benefiting from visibility to over 42,250 vehicles per day.
According to the property’s marketing documents, the Melrose Village Plaza features high-performing anchor tenants Albertsons, CVS Pharmacy, and Dollar Tree, and additional national and regional tenants, including UPS Store, H & R Block, Edward Jones, Phenix Salon Suites, Fantastic Sam’s, and Chase Bank, which is located on a freestanding pad. The property offers a significant value-creation opportunity, with approximately 23,046 square feet of vacant gross leasable area inclusive within the collateral (17 percent of the gross leasable area).
Kimco Realty is the owner of the property.
Investors have the opportunity to create value through multiple avenues, including lease-up of the vacant space, marking the rent to prevailing market rates, and improving the property’s overall occupancy rate. Approximately 72 percent of the occupied gross leasable area has rent structures that are below prevailing market rates for grocery-anchored shopping centers within the submarket.
The Melrose Village Plaza is located in an affluent coastal North San Diego County community, with household incomes of approximately $117,192 and $102,520 within a one- and three-mile radius of the property, respectively. The submarket has recently experienced continued residential growth, having increased in population by approximately 7 percent between 2010 and 2022 (three-mile radius). The trade area also benefits from a strong daytime population, with the Carlsbad Research Center and Rancho Vista Business Park located within 3.5 miles of the subject property.
The property benefits from a diverse and e-commerce-resistant tenant mix, including grocery, drugstore, dental, personal health/care, quick-serve restaurant, and financial services/banking uses. All exterior pad buildings are included in the collateral, including a freestanding pad building occupied by Chase Bank. Approximately 82 percent of the occupied square footage is comprised of national and regional tenants, and 85 percent of the occupied square footage has been in occupancy on or before 2011, demonstrating the long-term viability of the property’s location and tenant base.
The Melrose Village Plaza is offered by Aaron Battencourt and Ramez Barsoum of Irvine, Calif.-based Reza Investment Group. No pricing guidance has been offered on the property at this time.
The retail center was developed in 1990, and today it boasts Net Operating Income of $1.5 million with a pro-forma NOI of over $2 million.
