A regional retail center in Lynnwood that is across the highway from Alderwood Mall has sold to Phoenix-based Vestar, a national retail owner with a portfolio of properties that totals 30 million square feet throughout the western United States, for a total of $95 million. The seller, according to public documents filed in Snohomish county, was a group of entities associated with Bruce J. Vanderwall of Mercer Island.
The regional center is part of a cluster of retail buildings adjacent to Brookfield Properties’-owned Alderwood Mall. It is located in south Snohomish County, where the retail power center draws from a number of proximate cities like Bothell, Lynnwood, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace and others. The retail area is filled with restaurants, shops and other businesses, and it forms one of the most active geographies north of Seattle.
The retail center purchased by Vestar includes a number of buildings adjacent to the corner of Alderwood Mall Parkway and 196th St. NW. Some of the tenants in the retail center include Petco, Barnes & Noble, Jared and Anko.
Vestar’s purchase would make this acquisition one of the largest retail investments in the region in 2019. According to a third-quarter of 2019 Market Trends retail report for Seattle by Kidder Mathews, the retail market is in a fairly strong position finishing 2019, with vacancy trending lower, unemployment heading down, construction deliveries are lower and not impacting supply resulting in higher rental rates. Per Kidder Mathews’ report, vacancy is hovering around 3 percent with average asking rates at $20 across the region.
Vestar, founded in 1989, has become one of the leading privately-held retail real estate companies in the western United States. Vestar acquires, develops and manages retail and entertainment destinations of varying size and scale that serve as destinations and community focal points. In the Puget Sound region, the company spent $31.4 million in March of 2016 to acquire the 140,240-square-foot James Center in Tacoma. In August of 2017, the company was selected to manage The Landing, a 607,000-square-foot power center in Renton.
