Shopping Centers Change Hands

Two Salem shopping centers are under new ownerships this week following a 15-property sale by San Diego-based Burnham Pacific Properties, a retail real estate investment trust that is in the middle of liquidation.

The Village East at 2301 Lancaster Drive NE and Keizer Creekside at 5452 River Road North are the affected properties. The Village East is the largest neighborhood retail center in Salem. The 220,926-sf center is anchored by an Albertson’s, Ross Dress for Less, Borders Books and Bi-Mart. It is 5.8% vacant. Keizer Creekside is a 104,000-sf center anchored by Albertson’s and Rite Aid. It was built in 1989 and is fully leased.

Burnham Pacific sold its interest in the properties along with 12 others for $355 million. Prudential Real Estate Investors says it is making its investment on behalf of PRISA II, a $1.5 billion open-end, commingled real estate equity fund it operates for institutional investors.

The 14 properties, which together total 2.9 million square feet, consist of a mix of grocery anchors, power centers and a factory outlet center. Ten of the properties are located in California, and two are in with two each in Washington State.

The properties will be purchased through a joint venture, the Retail Value Investment Program, created by PREI and DDR in 1998. Coventry Real Estate Partners was subsequently established as a dedicated operating partner in the program, which invests in opportunistic retail property transactions.