Stockdale Capital Partners is rolling the dice on a 1.2 million-square-foot Ventura County shopping mall in need of renovation, The Real Deal has learned.
The Los Angeles-based real estate investor is in contract with Macerich to buy The Oaks at 350 West Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks for $157 million, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal. Spokespeople for Stockdale and Macerich did not respond to requests for comment.
Macerich CEO Jack Hsieh told shareholders last week that the company is set to sell The Oaks before the end of the year, but declined to identify the buyer.
“It’s an asset that needs to be reengineered, especially the retail,” Hsieh said in the earnings call. “It’s a development opportunity that has entitlement.”
The Oaks is currently 90 percent leased, Macerich reported in its annual filing. It’s got an AMC Theaters, Dick’s Sporting Goods and a motley trio of clothing retailers — JCPenney, Macy’s and Nordstrom.
Macy’s, for its part, has shuttered 150 locations across the country as part of its turnaround strategy, but the Thousand Oaks store has been spared so far.
Selling the mall is all part of Macerich’s plan to wipe $2 billion in debt from its balance sheet by carving up its retail portfolio.
The real estate investment trust bought The Oaks in 2002 for $152.5 million — that’s $267.3 million after adjusting for inflation — and embarked on a $250 million expansion and makeover in 2008.
The company currently has $148 million in debt tied to the property after winning a two-year extension on its loan in 2022 and another one earlier this year that pushed back the loan’s maturity date to 2026.
The Oaks is no spring chicken. It was built in 1978 and has been renovated multiple times.
But for Stockdale, it could present an opportunity.
The 30-year-old firm oversees a $2.8 billion commercial real estate portfolio, according to its website.
And Stockdale seems to have found a formula to reposition another California shopping mall. It’s currently redeveloping Horton Plaza in San Diego into a mixed-use campus with 850 apartments, office and retail space.
Eastdil Secured brokered the deal for Stockdale and declined to comment.