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Sacramento firm purchases La Borgata complex in El Dorado Hills

BY MARK GLOVER

[email protected]

Sacramento’s Ethan Conrad Properties Inc. said Tuesday that it has completed the purchase of the upscale La Borgata Shopping Center in El Dorado Hills.

The purchase price of the six building, mixed-use center at 3901-3911 Park Drive was not disclosed.

Existing tenants in the complex include the Sienna restaurant, Sky Sushi and Bank of America.

The local commercial real estate company said that it has also signed a lease with Bella Home Décor, an upscale home furnishings store, and has three other leases pending, as well as a potential sale of one of the buildings.

Ethan Conrad Properties Inc. has closed escrow on a troubled retail property in one of the wealthiest areas in the region.

The real estate investment firm announced it completed the purchase Tuesday of La Borgata at Serrano, a 62,183-square-foot retail center in El Dorado Hills that was foreclosed in 2012.

La Borgata, built in 2003, fell into default in 2009 because of increasing expenses and a… more

SCOTT CLARK PHOTOGRAPHY

“Really, it’s just a classic value-add opportunity,” said Chase Burke, a retail specialist with Ethan Conrad Properties. “It needed an owner and the right leasing team in there.”

Burke said the company planned to address deferred maintenance on the property, notable for its Italian village-style architecture. Since going into escrow earlier this month, Ethan Conrad Properties has signed upscale furniture store Bella Home Decor for one space, and has three other pending leases. The company also has a potential sale for one of the six buildings in the center, and is planning to remodel to draw attention to storefronts. Ethan Conrad Properties also plans to improve signage and landscaping on the property.

The purchase price was not immediately available. However, the company apparently submitted the winning bid in an online auction of the property earlier this month. Bids for that auction started at $4 million, and the final purchase price also included a 5 percent transaction fee.

La Borgata, built in 2003, fell into default in 2009 because of increasing expenses and a slump in leasing. The property had an outstanding loan balance of $11.7 million when it fell into foreclosure. The news release said the loan balance was significantly less than Ethan Conrad’s purchase price.

PRESS RELEASE JUL 18, 2016 17:00 EDT

Thank you Officers of the Law – Bluett & Associates and Ethan Conrad go Viral with a Public Thank You!

Sacramento, CA, July 18, 2016 (Newswire.com) – Bluett & Associates, Inc., a national real estate service firm, based in Sacramento has rented advertising on the Sacramento Electronic Billboard on Highway 50 at CSUS for the week. Lori Bluett, owner of Bluett & Associates,  has become fed up with recent criticisms and lack of support of the men and woman of service in our communities.   Lori worked with Clear Channel Advertising and Graphic Designer Jason PAIR design, LLC in Sacramento to design and run the above Thank You All Law Enforcement ad that will be ran 1200+ times a day for seven days this week.

“Many of us have jobs that are sometimes thankless.  But our law enforcement has this everyday. Thankless, tireless, 24/7 they stand at the ready for us and risk their lives!  Its time for business and people that they keep safe to say Thank You. For $1500 for a week on an electronic billboard, we challenge every other company in Sacramento and beyond to say Thank you loudly and publicly,” says Lori Bluett.

Lori used Facebook to challenge other Sacramento and national business owners to do the same thing to keep the ad on electronic billboards for Law Enforcement to see the companies that support them.  Sacramento’s Commercial Real Estate Executive, Ethan Conrad, and another local anonymous Broker have stepped up to keep the add running for the following two weeks in Sacramento under their logos. Also, several other companies in other states have picked up on Lori’s Facebookchallenge and will be running the same ad in their communities.  Let’s keep this going and get it across the country.

For Media Inquiries:

Lori Bluett Bluett & Associates, Inc. 916-779-1031

Ethan Conrad Ethan Conrad Properties, Inc. 916-779-1000

Ethan Conrad has acquired the Yuba Sutter Mall in Yuba City, which was foreclosed on in early 2014.

Conrad said in an email he thought the 407,000-square-foot mall was a bargain because the price tag was 30 percent of what it would cost to build new. The purchase price was about $15 million, he said.

Ethan Conrad Properties has acquired Yuba Sutter Mall.

ETHAN CONRAD PROPERTIES

“In fact, the tenant sales per square foot in this mall are good and it’s considered a solid ‘Class B’ mall,” he said. “To put it in perspective, the tenant sales per square foot for this mall are higher than Sunrise Mall.”

According to Conrad, the Sephora outlet in the mall’s JCPenney has the highest volume of any such store in a JCPenney. At the corner of Highways 20 and 99 in Yuba City, the mall is also at the busiest intersection in that area, he said.

Since acquiring the mall, Ethan Conrad Properties has renewed eight store leases. There is a potential lease for a lingerie store in a dual-concept, 7,000-square-foot space. There’s also interest in a junior anchor space along Colusa Avenue, as Highway 20 is known within Yuba City, according to the company.

In addition, a leasing flyer indicates a pending 50,000-square-foot store for a 73,000-square-foot anchor space on the mall’s southeastern corner.

Conrad said he’s planning remodeling work, such as improving visibility and signage and modernizing the exterior. There will also be work to improve the empty interior spaces.

Mall anchors are Sears, JCPenney and Ross Dress for Less, with several restaurant pad tenants around the exterior of the center. The mall opened in 1989.

Thomas Dobrowski of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the seller on the transaction.

A site long planned for an office park could instead develop as a commercial center, expanding the variety of shops and restaurants in Sacramento’s North Natomas area.

“We are planning on doing something that would be a couple of notches nicer than what’s in that area now,” said Ethan Conrad. His Ethan Conrad Properties Inc. owns the 12.5-acre parcel at Truxel Road and Gateway Park Boulevard, which he proposes to develop as the Natomas Fountains shopping center.

The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday will consider a request to rezone the property from an employment center, or office buildings, to a shopping center, and review the schematic design for a 115,960-square-foot retail center. If the project is approved, Conrad said, construction could begin in spring or summer 2017, with the center opening for business in 2018.

Conrad said he aims to attract businesses not currently found in North Natomas, noting that his firm has worked closely with Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, who represents North Natomas, in an effort to meet the community’s retail needs.

“It’s a wonderful project,” Ashby said. “It reflects sort of the indoor-outdoor spirit and gathering place mentality that is the next phase around Natomas.”

The proposal has been greeted favorably by the community. No one voiced opposition during an October hearing before the city’s Planning and Design Commission, which recommended approval.

The name “Natomas Fountains” begs comparison with the Fountains at Roseville. Located on Galleria Boulevard across from the Westfield Galleria, it features a mix of clothing and specialty stores, spas and salons, and a Whole Foods market. It also serves as a venue for community activities, offering a play area for children and a summer concert series.

Conrad said Natomas Fountains would include architectural elements to encourage people to socialize as well as shop and might borrow some ideas from Fountains at Roseville, which he described as a “lifestyle” center. But in terms of design, he said, Natomas Fountains would be a more traditional shopping center due to site constraints. The property is between two other large retail centers, Natomas Marketplace to the southwest and The Promenade to the northeast.

The plan calls for 10 buildings, ranging from 6,000 square feet to 28,900 square feet. Conrad said he is looking for a market, such as Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, to anchor the center. He cited restaurants such as Pieology Pizzeria, a “fast pizza” concept, as a possible tenant, as well as clothing and specialty shops.

Conrad noted that he is primarily a “redeveloper,” who typically buys aging or neglected commercial properties, remodels them and seeks to improve the tenant mix to better meet market demands. Although he would be building Natomas Fountains from the ground up, the objective would be much the same – to fill gaps in the current market.

“We’re really excited about this property and the future shopping center development,” John Brecher of CBRE, the leasing broker for the property, said in an email. “It makes a lot of sense, considering there is ‘retail’ surrounding the site in basically all directions. We have a lot of interest from a good mix of popular restaurants and shops that don’t currently exist in the area and would be a great addition to the community.”

Conrad purchased the property, once owned by developer Abe Alizadeh and his company Kobra Properties, after it went into foreclosure. Alizadeh had planned to develop an office park, but a retail market demand study commissioned by Ethan Conrad Properties concluded there is greater demand for retail space than office space in the North Natomas area. The vacancy rate for office space is 16 to 20 percent, while retail vacancies are about half that, Conrad said.

“This is a really good retail location, on Truxel, where it splits, and one block off the freeway,” Conrad said. “It’s a preferred infill location for retail.”

Tuesday’s council meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chamber, 915 I St.