SF New Developments

Invesco shops at Mission Bay, bags $62M retail center

San Francisco Business Times - April 7, 2006 by J.K. Dineen

Invesco Real Estate is placing a big bet on the heart of Mission Bay, acquiring the retail and parking components of the Beacon condo complex for an estimated $62 million, according to real estate sources.

Dallas-based Invesco is buying from Centurion Real Estate Partners the commercial center of the burgeoning neighborhood: 82,000 square feet of key retail along King, Townsend, Third and Fourth streets. Tenants include a Borders bookstore, a Safeway gourmet market, a Wells Fargo bank and a Starbucks. The transaction also included 950 parking spaces.

The deal comes 15 months after Centurion Real Estate Partners landed the former struggling Mission Place from Catellus for $346 million and set about converting largely vacant — and in some cases unfinished — rental units into 595 condominiums. The condo conversions have been a solid money-maker for Centurion and its investors, generating more than $350 million with 90 percent sold thus far, according to John Tashjian, a principal with Centurion.

Tashjian said selling the retail and office space as commercial condos was always part of Centurion’s plan.

“It’s a case where the sum of the parts was greater than the whole,” said Tashjian.

The Dallas-based REIT’s investment in the Beacon is further evidence of Mission Bay’s emergence as a multifacted neighborhood, with strong office, residential and retail sectors.

Invesco portfolio manager Bill Grubbs said the retail property is part of a diverified real estate fund that includes multi-family residential…[continue to article]