Movie madness at Westfield North County
With cable, satellite, Netflix, Youtube and and Apple TV, among other outlets, who said going to the movies was out of style?
Not Westfield North County. Even as the Westfield Corporation said it was selling fellow regional Westfield Carlsbad mall to Rouse Properties, it announce3d a new 10-screen theater headed to its Escondido mall.
The theater will be built at the mall’s back section in the modern way. It should contain recliner seating, outdoor plaza, shade structure, fire table and oh, by the way, a 75-foot sign. Discussions continue over who will operate the movie theater, according to Kim Brewer, Westfield vice-president of development.
The regional mall also will add a 35,000-square-foot 24-Hour Fitness by mid-2016 and build a sidewalk on Beethoven Drive at Bear Creek Parkway. It will eliminate 200 parking spaces leaving the mall with 6,252 spaces.
Haggen, we hardly knew ye
Perhaps it seemed like a good idea at the time, but Haggen grocery stores didn’t last long in San Diego County.
Based at Bellingham, Washington, Haggen Food & Pharmacy bought eight Vons and 17 Albertsons stores in December 2014. It took all of six months for store ownership to admit, we bad, and look for buyers.
Bids have come in for almost all of the 25 Haggen stores. Smart & Final, bless its heart, wants 11 of the stores. Albertsons has bid on five stores. Gelson hasn’t let a little thing like bankruptcy stand in its way as it bid for three stores. A bankruptcy court must approve the ale. Also bidding were Carnival Supermarket, Bristol Farms, RJS Investment Group. Tawa and Vestar California XXI.
The San Marcos Vons turned Haggen on Rancho Santa Fe Road is a gleam in Albertson’s eye. The Chula Vista Haggen is the ugly stepchild with no bidder as yet.
Here’s a list of suitors and suited including:
Gelson’s
▪ Carlsbad – El Camino Real
▪ Del Mar – Via De La Valle
▪ La Jolla – Turquoise St
Carnival Supermarket Inc.
▪ Chula Vista – Telegraph Canyon Road
Albertsons
▪ El Cajon – Broadway Street
▪ La Mesa – Lake Murray Blvd
▪ Rancho Bernardo – Rancho Bernardo Road
▪ San Diego – Highland Village Place
▪ San Marcos – Rancho Santa Fe
RJS Investment Group
▪ Poway – Pomerado Road
Tawa
▪ San Diego – Balboa Avenue
Good Food Holdings/Bristol Farms
▪ San Diego – W Washington St.
Vestar California XXI
▪ San Diego – Penasquitos Drive
Smart & Final
▪ Carlsbad – Carlsbad Village Dr
▪ Chula Vista – East H St
▪ Coronado – B Ave
▪ El Cajon – Camino Canada
▪ El Cajon – Fletcher Pkwy
▪ La Mesa – Avocado Avenue
▪ San Diego – Tierra Santa Bl.
▪ San Diego – Westview Pkwy
▪ San Diego – University Avenue
▪ Santee –- Magnolia Ave
▪ San Ysidro –- W. San Ysidro Blvd.
San Diego County Transient Occupancy Tax anybody?
What is the San Diego County Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and what does it mean for me? Who hasn’t asked that riveting question on past occasions?
Probably no one. However, this tax generates significant revenues that pay for a lot of stuff around the region. It’s the add-on tax visitors to the county pay when they stay at hotels , motels, bed and breakfasts, and other temporary lodging facilities.
The tax is at 9 percent and set a collection record for Fiscal Year 2014-15 that ended June 30. That would be $4.17 million, not exactly chump change.
“It looks very positive and of course we’re elated because it means more revenues are coming forward to the county,” county treasurer-tax collector Dan McAllister said. “It speaks well of our economy. The economy is starting to turn around. That’s a good sign. It means that small and large businesses are doing more business.”
TOT is collected only from lodging facilities in the county’s unincorporated area, although the revenue is used for the county’s Community Enhancement program and may be given to organizations in incorporated cities as well as unincorporated communities.
Community Enhancement funds, which are allocated during the county’s annual budget process, are intended to promote tourism including visitors from other parts of the county.
Unincorporated Escondido ranked fourth in county collections from 23 communities, dropping from second place in 2013-14. TOT collection for unincorporated Escondido declined from $555,498.63 in 2013-14 to $481,441.86 during 2014-15 although that was still an increase from the 2012-13 amount of $453,777.46.
For the first quarter of 2014-15, unincorporated Escondido brought in around $82,000, down from $111,000 for the same period a year previously.
San Marcos brought in nearly $120,000 due to renovation projects at Golden Door spa and resort and Lake San Marcos Resort.
Hager Pacific Properties Enters North San Diego Market With All-Cash $9 Million Industrial Acquisition
Hager Pacific Properties (HPP), one of the largest privately owned real estate investment firms in the Western United States, has acquired a 208,570-square-foot industrial property on 8.6 acres at 260 S. Pacific Street in San Marcos, California.
HPP purchased the property through Colliers International in an all-cash transaction which required only 25 days for inspection and close of escrow.
The site houses NAPP Systems, Inc.. It manufactures thin relief photopolymer printing plates and related equipment. The company was founded in 1972 and is a subsidiary of Macdermid Printing Solutions, LLC.
The Pacific Avenue property will be HPP’s first acquisition in the North San Diego market and second acquisition in San Diego County, with one multifamily holding, the 180-unit Woodside Apartments, in Lakeside, California.
“We are pleased to have been able to capitalize on this opportunity to reinvest in a property that will be quickly absorbed by the market. We feel especially confident about the investment as there is a shortage of functional space in the area,” the firm’s chief investment officer, Jason Schim said. “We have been monitoring the San Diego market for several years, and will continue to look for similar opportunities to increase our presence in the region.”
The industrial property offers unique functionality within its submarket, which only had a 3.3-percent vacancy rate at the end of Second Quarter, 2015. Property features include multiple dock-high and ground-level loading positions, a fenced two-acre storage yard and a colossal 10,000 amps of power. HPP plans to complete more than $2 million in renovations, including new roofing, lighting, loading, landscaping, offices and floors.
Very mysterious San Marcos refinance of Nordahl Marketplace
Hmm. Maybe The Shadow knows, but otherwise this little gem came across the newswires this week.
An unnamed investor has secured a $42 million loan to refinance Nordahl Marketplace, a 302,801-square-foot retail center in San Marcos, California.
The life company-funded loan has a 25-year term with full amortization. Ory Schwartz, senior vice president/managing director of NorthMarq Capital secured the funds on behalf of the borrower.
What’s not mysterious is Nordahl Marketplace itself, at the northwest corner of Highway 78 and Nordahl Road. It’s home to the likes of Walmart and Kohl’s and everything from Boot World to Wall Beds & More.
More as this breaking story develops.