J.P. Morgan Chase buys retail portfolio in California

Bank paid $138M for 22 sites it previously leased from MetLife

MetLife's Robert Merck
MetLife's Robert Merck, Chase bank property (Loopnet, Getty, MetLife)

J.P. Morgan Chase has acquired a 22-property California portfolio that it previously leased from MetLife, The Real Deal has learned.

The package, which totals 252,000 square feet, changed hands in a $138 million deal, according to a source with knowledge of the transaction. The portfolio includes 12 retail bank location properties in Southern California and 10 in Northern California.

The seller is MetLife Investment Management, the institutional asset management arm of the New York-based insurer. The firm put the entire package on the market last August with an asking price of $149.5 million.

MetLife also offered the regional portfolios for sale separately. The asking price for the Southern California properties was $87 million. The Northern California package was offered at $62.4 million.

Dan Riley, who was part of the CBRE team that brokered the deal, said that the portfolio attracted “multiple qualified and regional and entire portfolio offers.”

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The Southern California properties in the package are 15625 Whittier Boulevard in Whittier, 2121 Torrance Boulevard in Torrance, 2270 Huntington Drive in San Marino, 2398 Sycamore Drive in Simi Valley, 401 East Valley Boulevard in Alhambra, 27319 Hawthorne Boulevard in Rolling Hills Estates, 449 North La Brea Avenue in Fairfax, 60 East Huntington Drive in Arcadia, 2400 Valencia Boulevard in Valencia, 8450 Firestone Boulevard in Downey, 7964 Beach Boulevard in Buena Park and 101 South Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim.

Meanwhile, the Northern California portfolio included 98 West Portal Avenue and 2750 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, 2670 Berryessa Road and 1402 Lincoln Avenue in San Jose, 270 East 18th Street in Oakland, 1188 El Camino Real in Burlingame, 38980 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, 40 Colusa Avenue in Yuba City, 1535 Tiburon Boulevard in Tiburon and 20573 Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino.

Before the deal, Chase held triple-net leases — an arrangement under which it was on the hook for property taxes and maintenance costs — until 2030. The only exceptions were two properties in Torrance and San Francisco, which had leases expiring in 2025.

MetLife owned the properties for more than three decades. It bought the portfolio from Home Savings of America in 1990, property records show. The firm declined to comment.