Sunnyvale retail center deals on East El Camino Real top $80M

L.a.-based investors buy the two retail centers — Hacienda Shopping, Bell Plaza

SUNNYVALE >> Two Sunnyvale retail centers have been bought by Southern California investors in a pair of deals that allow a local family to whittle down its Silicon Valley real estate holdings.

Hacienda Shopping Center and Bell Plaza, both on East El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, have been bought by affiliates controlled by Los Angelesbased Balboa Real Estate Par tners, according to Santa Clara County public records.

The sellers were groups headed by members of the Margaret Bellomo, Christopher Bellomo and Victor Bellomo family in Sunnyvale, county documents show.

Hacienda Shopping Center, located at 785 E. El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, totals 173,000 square feet, is anchored by a Safeway supermarket and Michaels crafts store and also includes a Starbucks and a Jamba.

“The location of Hacienda Center is great. It is phenomenal real estate,” said John Machado, an executive vice president and retail expert with Colliers International, a commercial real estate firm. “The true value of the property is the real estate.”

Bell Center, at 1040 E. El Camino Real, totals 20,000 square feet and includes a Fitness 19, Supercuts, Subway, and Sawa Sushi.

All told, Balboa Retail Partners paid $81 million for the two retail centers, according to the county records.

Hacienda Shopping Center was bought for $68 million and Bell Center was bought for $13 million, Santa Clara County public records show.

The transactions involving the two shopping centers appear to be part of a whittling down of the Bellomo family’s long-time real estate holdings in the South Bay.

Trusts affiliated with the Bellomo family sold to Prometheus Group, a big developer, two apartment complexes, and a small retail center for a combined total of $ 77.2 million, county documents filed on July 30 show.

The three properties that the Bellomo family sold in July also are all near or next to El Camino Real, a short distance from the just-sold Hacienda and Bell retail centers.

A ll told, within two months, the Bellomo family trusts and partnerships have unloaded three retail centers and two apartment complexes for a total of $158.2 million.

Balboa Retail Partners specializes in re-leasing, redeveloping, and repositioning shopping centers, according to the real estate firm’s website.

“The company targets retail investments where we can add value through in-house leasing, redevelopment, and management capabilities,” Balboa Retail Partners stated on its web site.

It might be possible at some point to redevelop a section of the Hacienda Shopping Center, which sits on 8.7 acres, according t o Ma cha do, who helped find a number of tenants in the retail center for the Bellomo family.

“It might be possible to create a mixed-use center there by adding a housing component,” Machado said.

Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167.